Choices
by Blue Spotted Leopard
Summary: Harry chooses not to return to the land of the living the day of the Battle at Hogwarts. How will this effect those he left behind? *Harry is Ulquiorra fic*
1. Choice

Choice…

It seems like such an insignificant word but choice is what defines who you are. No matter what people tell you, your life is not governed by fate or destiny, but from the small insignificant decisions you make every day. Yet one of those small decisions, no matter how good the intention is, can change everything. It can lead you on the path of good or drag you to the pits of hell.

One man was given such a choice at the peak of battle. With his job now done he was given the choice to move on or to go back and finish the fight. Little did he know that this choice was bigger than he thought and his decision only brought him into the darkness.

You see in the wizarding world there are two ways to the afterlife. You can choose to stay on the mortal plain as a ghost, visible to all but unable to touch or taste. Or you could choose to move on and cease to exist. No one knows much about this choice as there has been no one to tell the tale. In normal circumstances a wizard could go no other path.

But these were not normal circumstances.

There are other choices,

What if that last thing you thought before you die was

**_I want to fight_**


	2. Threat

**Chapter 1: Threat**

Summer 1998:

It was an abnormally quiet day in the Seireitei, but then again looking at a book by its cover can be deceiving. Deep in the centre of Gotei 13 the most powerful shinigami were gathering for an important meeting. The thirteen captains, along with their lieutenants, were lined up in the main hall, looking at each other with growing tension. It was only when there was a real emergency that the captains and their deputies were brought together in such a manner.

When things finally settled down the captain commander addressed the crowd.

"The researchers on division twelve have detected a large disruption in Britain. There is an area of concentrated reiatsu in Scotland and Captain Kurotsuchi believes that there may have been some big battle down there. There are a large number of souls that have not been able to move onto soul society."

"I don't understand what the problem is Commander Yamamoto," the Captain of division four, Unohana Retsu, said. "Can't we just get those who are stationed in Britain to sort it out?"

"I'm afraid that is not possible Captain Unohana. The souls in question are in Wizard territory," the commander replied. He looked up to see half of the assembly staring at him wide eyed. Then all hell broke loose.

"But we are not to meddle with the goings on of the wizarding population," Captain Aizen said. "Shinigami made a contract, their dead do not come to the soul society."

"The things that they have done to souls is unacceptable," sneered Ukitake Jushiro, captain of division thirteen.

"Yes," pondered Captain Kurotsuchi. "Their ability to keep souls to the living plain without them turning into hollows is fascinating. I would love to experiment on them."

"Not that," replied a repulsed Ukitake. "They keep beasts that are half hollow and use them as punishment on criminals."

"Oh yes of course," the division twelve smiled sinisterly. "I would love to get my hands on one of those as well."

"Silence!" Yamamoto demanded. "The incident is a school, full of children. Whoever could do such an act is truly despicable. One can only assume it was the dark wizard Voldemort and if it was, he could be a threat to the whole world, including us."

The room went silent.

"I need two captains to go out with a small group and find out as much as you can."

"Who would you suggest?" Unohana politely asked, making the commander sit and contemplate for a while.

"Kuchiki and Hitsugaya, gather your best subordinates and take them with you. This would be a good time to test your skills young captain," he said glancing at the white haired boy.

"Yes sir," the two captains responded.

"Be careful, if Voldemort finds out about us there is no knowing what will happen. Find out as much as you can about what happened and if it is a threat on soul society."

"Yes sir."

"I'll expect a full report as soon as possible. You are all dismissed."

* * *

Toshiro was worried. Knowing he hadn't been a captain for very long he couldn't help but feel anxious about this mission. There was something he was missing, and no one seemed to want to mention it. He looked up at Captain Kuchiki and wondered if he knew anything about what was going on.

"I didn't know wizards existed," Toshiro said to the older captain.

"Yes, since the birth of mankind," Byakuya said bluntly.

"Then why have we not seen any wizards in soul society?" The young captain asked curiously. Byakuya sighed,

"They go to another dimension; their unusual ability to manipulate reiatsu meant that they were pushed into a different dimension. It's a bit like they have a different energy frequency that is a key to a different door. In a way their soul is completely destroyed as their reiatsu becomes too unstable, so only a shadow of their being remains. That is why they do not come in the form of a normal soul."

"How do you know that if no one knows how to get to there?"

"A long time ago the wizards made contact with shinigami. The shinigami known as 'death' was the former leader of the British posted squadron from Soul Society. He gave them three priceless artifacts to test whether we could trust these magical folk. One of them was a stone that could bring back the dead. With normal souls it worked very well. The non-magical souls were able to freely move from soul society happily, but the wizards' souls, did not. They were despondent. Like shadows." He paused. "Those three brothers caused great trouble for the world of the living and dead, so we had to make an agreement with the wizards not to interfere with their business any more."

Toshiro now understood, they wouldn't go and interfere unless it was utterly important. This Voldemort person must be really dangerous if the head commander Yamamoto feels the need to interfere. There must have been some non-magical people caught in the crossfire of the battle and unable to cross over. Whatever happened must have been big and could be a huge threat.

"Have your team ready in ten minutes captain Hitsugaya," Captain Kuchiki said. "We leave as soon as possible."

* * *

A team of twenty shinigami arrived on the grounds of a huge castle. The whole place was in ruins as they walked cautiously to the entrance. Bodies littered the ground and all of them were clutching a wooden stick in their hands. Toshiro had not seen such bloodshed in this volume before and it sent a chill down his spine. He looked at his vice-captain, who was looking curiously into the lifeless eyes of a young witch that had unceremoniously fallen on the steps of the grand entrance. She was only a child, no older than 17.

In fact most of the dead looked too young to have fought in such a brutal battle, most of them were still in their school uniform.

"Matsumoto," he called to his vice-captain. "We need to get going."

"Yes sir," she softly said. She held her face down in a desperate attempt to hide her tears. For someone like her to get affected by this showed the true brutality of this battle.

Captain Kuchiki spoke up.

"The anomalous readings are coming from that hall over there." He pointed to two large oak doors that led out of the entrance hall.

The group cautiously opened the doors, zanpakutos ready, just in-case something hostile was residing in the room. Yet nothing had prepared them for what they were about to see.

This room was obviously the main battleground. Bodies of young and old littered the ground in pools of their own blood. These people had not been killed as cleanly as those out in the grounds and halls. There were signs that people had tried to escape, as one of the walls had a huge gaping hole straight through it.

"Captains," one of the shinigami from division 6 spoke up. She pointed to the corner of the room where she could see movement.

What the shinigamis saw was enough to make even Byakuya gasp with surprise. Seven spirits were huddled in the corner of the great hall. Some were still in their Hogwarts uniform and all of them were clutching hold of their own zanpakuto.

The wizards had become shinigami.


	3. Rebirth

**Chapter 2: Rebirth**

[1] "I've got to go back haven't I?"

"That's up to you."

"Have I got a choice?"

"Oh, yes." Dumbledore smiled at him. "We are in King's Cross you say? I think that if you decided not to go back, you would be able to… lets say… board the train."

"And where would it take me?"

"On," said Dumbledore simply.

Silence again.

"But do you want me to go back?"

"It is your choice Harry."

"But I was ready to die," Harry replied. "I told them what to do if the worst happens. They can handle it."

Dumbledore looked at the man in front of him solemnly. "I think that if you choose to return, there is a chance that he may be finished for good. I cannot promise it. But know this, Harry, you have less to fear from returning here than he does."

Harry stood, looking into the distance with glassy eyes. This made Dumbledore uneasy.

"Harry?"

"No."

It was the first time that Harry had seen Dumbledore look truly shocked.

"What?" Dumbledore said.

"You're wrong," Harry replied. "I'm more afraid of going back, than he is of coming here."

"Harry, you have never let fear take control of you before. By returning, you may ensure that fewer souls are maimed, fewer families are torn apart."

"So now you are trying to get me to go back, I thought it was my choice."

"Harry, please understand."

"NO!" Harry bellowed. "I'm fed up of being the one that everyone has to rely on. Why can't someone else do it for once? There are plenty of witches and wizards that are capable of taking down Voldemort now that he is mortal."

"But Voldemort has the Elder Wand."

"So," Harry replied as his anger boiled over. "You had the elder wand and you went down quite easily. Now that I look back, it was rather pitiful. In the end we are all weak. The only thing that makes us different from that trash," he pointed to the trembling mess of Voldemort's soul. "Is that we are not holding onto life with our all our might. He fears dieing more than he fears being alone."

"But that's it Harry, do not pity the dead, pity the living, and, above all, those who live without love."

"I'm still not going back." Harry turned and walked away from Dumbledore. "This is where we part."

"I'm sorry Harry," Dumbledore sighed. "But there is no turning back now." [1]

* * *

2nd March, 1998. _About half an hour later_

A black figure was slowly coming into consciousness in the large expanse of the Hueco Mundo desert. This large creature had large black wings and a bleached white face-mask with horns. The face-mask went down its neck, along its back and down its tail like an exoskeleton. On closer look one could see that its paws had huge claws that could easily tear through flesh and it could be seen that it was not just black. It was covered in fur that was tinted green on its chest and legs, and there was a huge crack down the right of the face-mask. It kind of looked like a lightning bolt cutting through its forehead.

It slowly opened its eyes, to reveal a green glow that can be seen through the eyeholes of the facemask.

It groggily lifted its head and surveyed its surroundings. Something told it that it needed to hunt, so it immediately set off to find food.

* * *

On its hunt it found what looks like a dense forest underground and it was teeming with creatures that made its mouth water. After easily killing and eating half a dozen of them he was confronted by one of these creatures that was sitting on one of the tree like structures above. It was much larger than the winged creature and seemed to radiate a little more power than the ones that he had just eaten.

"That was quite a show," it said, "you killed those guys so easily."

The winged creature stood analyzing the larger creature without saying a word. He could tell that the silence was making the creature anxious.

"What's your name?" The large creature asked as it jumped off the branch.

"I don't know, I woke up this morning and came out for a hunt, that is all I have memory of," said the winged creature in a masculine voice.

The large creature's face dropped.

"No memory?" it asked.

"No," the winged creature replied in a monotonous voice. "Now could you please tell me you things are?"

"Hollows," it replied. "And your one too… No memory at all?" it questioned again making the winged hollow sigh.

"I grow weary of this game."

"How do you automatically become an adjuchas menos straight after death? You must be like the Black Shadow."

"Who would be?"

"The black shadow is the only hollow to appear as a full adjuchas without going through the other hollow stages. He has no memory of who he was in his previous life and is extremely powerful. In the form of a giant black dog, with a black mask, it roams around Hueco Mundo only killing to survive. Since its appearance two years ago it has evaded capture from the Vasto Lordes and the Arrancar."

Silence…

"What are you, some kind of bat?" The strange creature asked him.

"I don't understand what you are talking about," the winged creature said to him.

"Well most adjuchas menos have at least a little bit of a resemblance to an creature from the land of the living. You look like a bat," the large hollow paused. "Or a dragon."

The 'bat/dragon' sighed. He was becoming bored of this game. The trash was obviously trying his luck, but the black hollow had already worked out his weaknesses. And he was still hungry.

"Since you were so afraid of this black shadow, why are you not afraid of me?"

"Heh, even hollows need friends, since you are new here I thought we could be friends. You know I'll show you the ropes to being a hollow."

"Friendships are for weaklings," the winged hollow said. He didn't know why he thought that, but it seemed familiar and deep inside his consciousness he knew it was significant. "They hold onto it because they fear being left to fight on their own."

He turned to the larger hollow, his bright green eyes glowing from beneath his mask.

"Do you expect me to fight your fights because I am just like the black shadow?"

The large hollow frowned. It didn't think that the new hollow would catch on so fast. In a desperate attempt to escape it opened it mouth causing energy to gather and be absorbed. The winged hollow was curious to see that the other was going to do. The gathering energy could be a threat to him but he wanted to know what exactly he was doing.

The energy began to emerge from the mouth once again and formed a great beam that headed straight towards the winged hollow.

"CERO!" it bellowed.

Quickly reacting the black hollow pulled his wings over himself in defense.

"That's interesting," he said in his monotone voice as he pulled his smoking wings back. "Not a scratch. I wonder if it will be the same for you?"

The larger hollow quivered before turning and running, whilst the winged hollow imitated it and began to gather up energy.

"Cero," he muttered hitting the hollow square in the back. Walking up to the incapacitated hollow he sighed.

"Pitiful," he said before taking a bite.

After a few more bites he was rudely interrupted by yet another voice.

"Aizen- sama was right," said the approaching figure. The humanoid was wearing white clothes, had grey hair and was smiling rather sinisterly. "You are a special one."

The hollow could feel the power radiating of this man and he knew that this man could probably kill him quite easily. But the hollow still stood its ground.

"So?"

"Aizen-sama has a proposition for you."

"And I would get?"

"Power."

* * *

**A/N: Confusing at first, but it should get clearer in the next chapters, I hope.  
**

**[1] The first half has extracts from page 722 of J.K. Rowling's book. **


	4. Shinigami

Hogwarts 1998 May 3rd, 03:18.

Now Rangiku was not a very maternal person, but after walking through the bodies of dozens of school children, something just clicked within her. So when she saw a small group of teenagers quivering in the corner, she immediately rushed over to them. They all looked a bit shocked at the strange woman with a sword running towards them, but by time she was in front of them she pulled the nearest girl into her arms they didn't care anymore.

"Everything is going to be O.K.," the blonde said softly. They must have seen the whole battle. The ginger girl in her arms broke down into tears of relief when the strange woman came and gave her a hug.

"You can see us?" Rangiku looked up to see the eldest, a man about mid 40's, got the courage to speak up.

"Yes of course we can," she replied.

"Then why couldn't anyone else?" he asked. "We are dead right? Then why can't we be seen by anyone, like the ghosts can?"

"That's because you are shinigami now," said Captain Kuchiki as he walked up to the group with Captain Hitsugaya. "Soul reaper," he clarified as he noticed the confused looks he was getting.

The young girl next to the red head gasped.

"No, that can't be right," she said. "That's not allowed."

She turned to look at the strangers.

"You should not be here."

Toshiro scowled at the comment,

"You should have not become soul reapers." He paused, "Matsumoto! Let go of that poor girl, you are suffocating her. We need to get going as soon as possible."

"But captain, they are in shock. It is not safe to put any unnecessary stress on them."

"Then we will have the fourth division look them over. It is not safe here; we need to get them into soul society. We can go over everything there."

Captain Kuchiki looked over to the group. It certainly was a mystery indeed. No one has become a shinigami this way before. Certainly humans have become shinigami though, but that was only when a shinigami gave their powers. That illegal act meant that the humans were still alive afterwards, but he was certain that he had seen the young boy boy's body on the grounds, near the entrance hall.

He watched as the group interacted with Captain Hitsugaya and lieutenant Matsumoto. The wizards certainly didn't look like anything special. Two of them were still in their school uniforms for crying out loud. Two girls looked like they were the same age. The ginger one who had been in the vice captain's arms looked like she had been crying and the blonde one in uniform didn't look like she was comprehending anything at all. The boy in uniform was severely bruised; it looked like he had been severely beaten many days prior to the battle and these injuries had stayed as he died. There was a girl that looked the same age as the boy. She was the one who had spoken back to him, much to his displeasure. She had long bushy hair and she kept looking at the shinigami with skeptical eyes. The last three looked much older. Another ginger one, who looked like he could be the brother to the girl, had a distant look. It was as if something was missing. The eldest man was covered in scars and was holding onto the woman next to him. She had bright pink hair that made the captain very uncomfortable. The only other person he could think of with pink hair was the vice-captain of the eleventh division and he hoped that she wasn't like that.

The Captain was brought out of his thoughts when one of his subordinates appeared before him.

"We have finished searching the premises Captain Kuchiki," she said.

"Is there anything to report?"

"No sir," she said. "The castle was completely empty. We have not heard from those in division 10 that were searching the grounds. The only signs of 'life' were the ghosts that roam the castle. I tried to send one to soul society but it didn't work." A ghost appeared behind her, "and now he won't eave me alone."

Kuchiki nodded.

"You sir," he gestured to the ghost behind the shinigami. "Why are you following my subordinate around?"

"Well good sir, I was merely looking for more survivors in the castle, but instead I find you strangers. You are not wizards are you? What are you doing here?"

"We're here because of them," he pointed to the group of shinigami wizards.

"Oh Sweet Merlin," he gasped as he headed over to the wizards. "Remus? I saw you die!"

"Nick? You can see us too?" The eldest man said.

"Well of course I can see you, but you still haven't told me, how are you still alive?"

"But I'm not alive Nick," he pointed to his body that still lay in the great hall next to his wife. Nick gawked at the body,

"I…"

"CAPTAIN!" Nick was interrupted as the search group from division 10 came running into the hall, followed be a horde of dementors. Quickly the captains unsheathed their swords and went running to the black hooded creatures, Matsumoto and Shirogane not far behind. No one noticed two figures running to the bodies that had been dumped in the great hall.

As the dementors gained ground on the division 10 shinigami the captains did not think that they would make it in time. Hitsugaya readied to release his shikai and turned to see Captain Kuchiki doing the same. However, before Kuchiki could say scatter two voices echoed through the great hall.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

Two silver wolves bounded towards the dementors. This put distance between them and the fleeing shinigami and allowed toe two captains to release their zanpakutos and destroy them.

"What the heck was that?" Matsumoto said.

"I have no idea…" Toshiro trailed off when he turned to see the scarred man and the pink haired lady next to their bodies. They had their wands pointed straight out to where the dementors were,

"What did you do?" Hitsugaya asked.

"Patronus," Remus said. "It is our defense against dementors."

Captain Kuchiki was kneeled next to the mangled bodies of the dementors.

"Its strange these haven't been purified and sent to the soul society."

"Hmmmmm," Toshiro said. "Look we have to get to the soul society now that everyone's back. Captain Commander will want to know what happened."

"I agree," Kuchiki said. "You three take that frozen dementor. I'm sure Captain Kurotsuchi will be ecstatic to have that." Three shinigami from division 6 picked up the dementor.

Matsumoto turned to her captain and discreetly whispered something in his ear. He nodded. She went to the younger wizards who were still all sat in the corner.

"Do you want to find your wands? They still may be near your bodies and they would be very useful now that we know that you can still use them."

The blonde smiled at Matsumoto and said,

"Mine is not by my body, and neither is Fred's. He was moved before the fight in the Great hall. However I do know where to find them. I can see the trail Wrackspurts quite clearly towards our wands."

"Huh?" Matsumoto said.

"I thought that Wrackspurts only affected your head?" The brown-haired boy said.

"They are linked to our magical core," she said. "They only effect our brain because it is they easiest way to get to our magic. They are also attracted to the magic between body and wand."

The bushy-haired girl sighed.

"Luna can you find out wands for us?"

"Yes," she said dreamily. The ginger boy grinned.

"Lets go then Loony," he said picking up his zanpakuto and tying it to his sash. "Lead the way."

"Matsumoto," Hitsugaya warned. "Don't' take too long."

* * *

A group of wizard shinigami were at the front of a group walking through Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Behind them were the shinigami that had turned up in the castle not even 15 minutes ago. These shinigami had turned their world around. Yet after all they had been through that night, they did not whether to believe them or not. However, half of them were still showing signs of shock and all they wanted was an explanation.

"How do you know we can trust them?" muttered the bushy haired brunette. "Shinigami are not allowed to interfere with the souls of wizards."

"But these are not normal circumstances," said Remus. "If you haven't noticed, we are shinigami too."

"Do you hear a voice?" The timid boy said. They looked at him, they had heard a voice but they all assumed that it was just echoes from the aftermath of the battle. Luna stopped at the hole in the wall and pulled a wand from the rubble.

"Don't worry Neville," she said dreamily. "It is your inner soul. We are going to need their help to keep fighting."

"How do you know that?" Fred asked.

"That's what we are here for isn't it?" She replied, giving him his wand. "We need to keep fighting Voldemort, the shinigami will give us the means to do so."

"Luna?" The brunette said.

"Don't worry Hermione, Ron is O.K. My sword says so."

* * *

By the time they had found all their wands Hermione was still apprehensive about trusting the strangers.

The young ginger girl stood beside her and tried to reassure her.

"Luna is a seer you know," she said. "Over the last year she has shown more and more of her gift."

"Pfft divination," Hermione replied.

"Hermione, this is not like Trelawney. Over the last year she has shown more of her gift. She saved our lives dozens of times."

"Can we trust them?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure Ginny?"

"Yes I am."


	5. Shikai

**A/N: Sorry it's taken me so long to update guys. I've just finished all my degree work so now I've got all the time in the world… that is until I get a job.**

**Also my other stories will be updated soon, so yeah.**

**Anyways here is the next chapter for Choices:**

**Decisions**

"Remus Lupin,

Nymphodora Tonks,

Frederick Weasley,

Neville Longbottom

Hermione Granger,

Luna Lovegood,

and

Ginnny Weasley

were founding the wreckage of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry at 03:18hrs yesterday. They are of wizarding descent and have died in the battle that had taken place hours before our shinigami arrived. We have been unable to fully gauge the situation at the moment as they are being seen to by the fourth division to check if they have any long term physical and psychological damage from what they witnessed before and after their deaths." Informed the captain commander.

The thirteen captains stood in silence as they tried to the information.

"Are they going to be a threat to us?" Captain Tosen questioned. "We've never had a wizard shinigami before, they could be a danger to us all."

"If I may," Captain Unohana asked. "After checking over the wizards that they are al well. I saw no reason that they should be considered a threat. Captain Kurotsuchi had a chance to study them during this time." The captains turned their attention to the mad scientist.

"I have indeed studied the newcomers… From a distance, at Captain Unohana's request," he glanced grudgingly at the healer. "I have determined that they are not a threat. It seems that they are perfectly normal shinigami, with the exceptions that they have slightly higher reiatsu and they still have their 'Magical' abilities. This is probably due to the fact that Reiatsu and the magic that they use are essentially the same thing."

"Are they a threat to the soul society?" Yamamoto asked. "Were they on the side of this 'Dark Lord'?"

"Oh no, they are far to valiant for that. I suspect that this is the reason for why they are shinigami," he replied. "No, no, no. I looked managed to hack into the wizarding archives. These people seem to be some of the main characters fighting against the dark wizards. They are as light as they can get."

"That is good to hear," the commander replied. "They will be much easier to work with then."

"Excuse me commander," Captain Ukitake said. "What does Captain Kurotsuchi mean by their valiance being the reason the reason why they are here?"

"It seems that their desperate need to keep fighting has lead to the development of their shinigami powers. This way they are still able to fight against Voldemort.

"It seems that they were all killed by what is known as the killing curse. This is not a normal way of dieing and caused a major fluctuation in their reiatsu, this separated their soul from their body without destroying it like it should have and thus they become shinigami," Kurotsuchi pondered.

"But currently we do not know the situation in the wizarding world," Yamamoto said. "I fear that these dementors that Captains Kuchiki and Hitsugaya mentioned may be more of a threat to Gotei 13 than Voldemort. If you do not consider the wizards a threat I would like for them to enroll in the shinigami academy. They will receive the proper training while we decide whether to let them to keep fighting in their war. Any objections?"

"No sir," they chorused.

"Good," Yamamoto nodded. "Unohana and Hitsugaya, please could you get your lieutenants to take them to the academy."

"Yes sir," they replied.

"Meeting adjourned"

* * *

The Lieutenants for the 4th and 10th squad both entered the hospital room of the Wizard shinigami.

"The captains have come to a decision with what to do with you." Isane smiled. "They are going to let you train in the shinigami academy for the next two years."

"But what about the wizards war!" Hermione said. "We need to get back and fight."

"Well that's what got you in this mess in the first place," snorted Matsumoto. "There's not much you can do now in your condition."

"I don't understand," Hermione said.

"Captain Kurotsuchi said that the only reason that you become shinigami in the first place is because you wanted to carry on fighting. Normally you wizards would have two choices in death, become a ghost or pass on to the unknown, but you lot chose something different. Strange that so many of you made the same choice at the same time." Matsumoto pondered.

"It is thought that because the high amount of spiritual and magical pressure that descended on Hogwarts that night that this is possible," Isane kindly clarified.

"But," Hermione continued. "We need to keep fighting Voldemort, if that is why we are here."

"Hermione," Remus said.

"You cannot keep us here! Who knows what Voldemort can do without us to fight back! We watched him murder everyone close to us and you expect us to do nothing!"

"HERMIONE!"

The brunette spun round and glared at the werewolf.

"WHAT!"

"There's not much we can do if we don't know how to use our new powers," he calmly said. "Look I know you are worried about Ron but he can handle himself, they all can."

Rangiku smiled.

"Well then, now we've got that sorted lets get going to the academy!" she exclaimed making Fred smile at the woman's enthusiasm.

"You all have a clean bill of health, your free to go," Isane said.

"Thank you Miss Kotetsu," Remus replied.

* * *

The shinigami walked to the academy silently and it was making Rangiku extremely uncomfortable. That was until the young ginger girl spoke up.

"Umm Miss Matsumoto, could you tell us any more about the soul society," she asked. "No one has really told us anything."

"Sure Gin-chan," Rangiku smiled brightly. "What do you want to know."

"Ummm, what are shinigami and what is the soul society?"

Matsumoto spent the rest of the journey explaining what the society is and the laws and duties that rule the shinigami in Gotei 13.

"Miss Matsumoto," Neville quietly spoke up. "I don't understand. If all the souls from around the world are here, how is it that we all understand each other?"

"Oh I know this one!" The blonde said. "Everyone is speaking a different language but the high levels of reiryoku in the soul society everyone is connected and therefore we can understand each other."

"Oh so it's like the Tardis then," Hermione said.

"I don't follow," Rangiku replied. Hermione sighed at the 8 blank faces looking at her.

"*Sigh* Never mind. It's just a British Muggle TV program reference," she replied.

"Oh would that be the Time And Relative Dimension In Space? The time machine spaceship used by the Doctor that aids him in communicating in many languages by directly linking into your brainwaves," Fred arrogantly recited.

"How did … ?"

"Well you see, me and George dabbled in a bit of the science fiction… for inspiration purposes," he grinned rather smugly causing Matsumoto to laugh out loud.

"I like you," she sniggered. "How about you guys come for drinks this evening. We can introduce you to the rest of the guys."

"Ahh Matsumoto, I'm not sure that is such a good idea."

"Oh Tosh Isane, they need to have a good night out after what they have been through," Rangiku scolded. "Anyway I like this one," she pointed at Fred. "He's funny, and the little know it all needs to loosen up a bit."

"Were here," Isane said as they stopped outside the academy, completely ignoring Matsumoto's remark.

"So what do you think, I'll meet up with you for drinks?"

"A drink sounds good," Neville said and turned to the brunette. "Come on Hermione you need to talk about what's bothering you." She scowled at him. "I don't understand why you keep being so hostile."

She turned away from the group wrapping herself in her arms.

"Hermione?" Ginny questioned.

"Hermione sweetie what's wrong?" Tonks repeated.

"Its Harry," she whispered. Ginny froze and turned to stare at Hermione.

"What about Harry?" she snapped back.

"Why isn't her here? Surely he wouldn't have just given up," she said turning back towards Ginny, showing her tear stained face. "Of all the people I would have thought would be here, it would be him."

"Hermione please stop it," Ginny said. She started to shiver as her eyes filled with tears.

"I'm sorry but this needs to be said. How could he stop fighting like that?"

"Maybe for someone who has been fighting all his life, death seems like a promising concept," said Luna airily from the back of the group.

"Meaning?"

"Meaning," Remus said. "He thought that Voldemort could be defeated once he sacrificed himself. He was ready to die."

"And how would you know that Professor Lupin? Last tome I checked the last time you talked to him was when Teddy was born."

"Hermione, I was summoned by the resurrection stone just before he died."

"What!"

"He had just found out that he was the last Horcrux and he was going to sacrifice himself to make Voldemort vulnerable again."

"But… But how could he just abandon us like that!" she screamed.

"Stop it! Both of you!" Ginny sobbed as Luna held her in her arms. The blonde scowled at Hermione in a manner that the brunette had not seen before. Luna turned Ginny around and walked her to the entrance.

"Hermione don't get me wrong," said Fred. "But you are not the only one who lost someone last night." He turned to follow his sister inside. Hermione stood frozen until his words hit her.

"Oh God Fred," she whimpered as she fell to her knees. "I am so sorry."

"Ummm," Matsumoto interrupted. "You just need to go to room 108, the tutor is already waiting to introduce you to the academy. She already knows you are coming."

"Thanks," Remus smiled.

"Are they going to be alright?" Isane questioned.

"Yeah," Remus answered. "We all lost someone last night whether they are still alive or not. But we will be O.K. Will you be able to pick us up at the end of the day Miss Matsumoto?"

"Uhhh… Sure," she smiled.

"Come on honey," he grabbed the hand of his wife. "Thank-you for your help Miss Isane, Miss Matsumoto." He said as he nodded to the lieutenants as they headed inside.

Neville touched Hermione's shoulder.

"Come on Hermione," he said.

"O.K. Neville," she replied. "I'm sorry for being so rude, Rangiku, Isane. I hope I can make it up to you."

"Don't worry Hermione-chan. We know you didn't mean it," Matsumoto smiled warmly.

"Thank-you," Hermione replied before following the others with Neville.

Let the learning begin.

* * *

Captain Kuchiki came around to the academy to check on the progress of the mysterious new shinigami that had arrived the day before. It was early so he didn't expect the wizards to be in the training grounds. He expected them to be in class like all the other new recruits but the teacher said that they had been transferred to a more advanced class. This had confused the captain at first, but considering they had been fighting a war for the good part of three years he shouldn't have expected less.

Making his way to the training grounds to find the seven academy students with a personal tutor.

"Oh Captain Kuchiki, what a surprise. To what do we owe this honor?" The academy tutor asked.

"I've come to see how the new recruits are settling in," the captain replied.

"Oh they've settled in very well," she smiled. "Quite surprising really. Why don't you show your progress to the captain?"

"Oh, that's not necessary, I'll come back in a week. I'm sure they will have much more to show me then."

"Oh no sir I must insist," the tutor smiled knowingly to the captain. "Mr Lupin why don't you start?"

Byakuya frowned, what could they possibly have learned in a day? This was a complete waste of time. Remus stepped forward and bowed to the captain before withdrawing his sword. Kuchiki felt a small rise in spiritual power and then heard the man speak.

"Howl Ula," he spoke softly and a large burst of energy came from the sword.

"Impossible," Byakuya muttered. "He can't possibly have." However, before he could speculate any more Remus appeared from the light to reveal his sword in shikai form. The sword hadn't changed that much, but it was completely black, with images of white wolves running down the blade. The tutor smiled at the face of the captain. For someone who often took pride in his calm demeanor to be showing such pulling such a shocked face was very amusing.

She looked to her other students,

"Why don't you all show the captain what you have learned?"

Tonks stepped forward.

"Deceive Morgana." She released her sword to show a small dagger with a rainbow hilt. It looked just like her sword when it wasn't released, but it was just smaller. The pink haired woman smiled and stepped back to let Fred take the spotlight.

"Play Yorick." His swords spilt into two identical swords with orange hilts and a small w* dangling off the end of each hilt on a piece of string. Next was Neville.

"Roar King," and his sword changed its shape. It now took the form of a sickle shaped gardening utensil. Hermione took a deep breath and stepped in place.

"Flow Sheshatnu." Her sword turned a brilliant sea blue and the hilt looked like a glass compartment, Byakuya could see dark blue ink spilling about in it.

"Foresee Sybil," Luna said as her sword turned transparent like glass as the blonde turned to Ginny.

"Bring Chaos Aide." The red head's sword disappeared to reveal two steel fans that were connected by a long chain. The edge of the fans had a deep emerald green band that went right around the circumference if the sharpened edge.

Captain Kuchiki was at a loss for words and that didn't happen very often.

"It may seem impossible sir, but they say they heard the name of their zanpakuto as soon as they died," the tutor said. "I've now been assigned as their private tutor to teach them everything, but I don't think it would take any longer than 6 months."

"Do they know their abilities yet?"

"Well we're not 100% sure yet sir," she replied. "We know that Luna's gives her a glimpse into the future, it allows her to foresee her opponents moves before they do them. Neville's has the ability to produce vines that can ensnare opponents, but I also think that he can control most plants. Ginny can control wind currents around her. Tonks' and Fred's seem to both be involved in bending reality but we're not sure of how yet. We haven't worked out the others two though."

"I see," the captain said. "I'll make sure that head commander Yamamoto is informed. I'll let you get back to training."

"Thank-you sir," they chorused. He nodded and made his way back to his office, hoping that nothing else out of the ordinary would happen he made his way down the street he sensed something behind him.

"So you saw it too huh captain?" Matsumoto said behind him.

"Yes I did Lieutenant Matsumoto," he replied, turning to face her. She looked a little embarrassed that he was there. "You seem to have taken quite a liking to the new comers."

Rangiku blushed, confirming Byakuya's suspicions.

"I… errr," she stuttered.

"I'll leave it to you Lieutenant," he said calmly as he walked away. "Make sure you are not too late for meeting up with captain Hitsugaya."

The captain was right though; Rangiku had enjoyed spending the previous evening with the wizards. She had shown them around the Seriteti before taking them out to drink with some of her pals. Kira, Hisagi, Renji, Ikkaku and Yumichika were quite taken by the wizards and in the end they had bonded quite quickly. Matsumoto had been a bit worried at first, after leaving them after such a big fight but they had already made up when they left the academy.

Matsumoto was quite happy that she did meet up with them again. They and opened up quite a lot. She had found out that Tonks and Remus were married and that they had just had a son together. The young one was still alive and was being cared for under the care of Dora's mother. Apparently Remus was also a werewolf, which was quite shocking to Rangiku who did not believe them to exist. She had also found out about this Harry Guy. Poor Ginny had watched as she watched her boyfriend's body was displayed to all. The girl was reunited with the man she loved and she had lost him the same evening. She was utterly broken, but she was determined to not let it get to her. Ginny was a strong girl and she could cope, but Matsumoto fears that the girl will never fully get over it.

Hermione was not as bad as Matsumoto anticipated. The girl was actually extremely clever and which had shown to be her burden. She tended to over think things and that is what got her into that mess with her friends yesterday afternoon. She had lost her two best friends the night she had died and the poor girl felt betrayed when Harry didn't become a shinigami like she did. Neville and Luna kept to themselves and Rangiku did not find out much about them.

However she had grown to like Fred quite a lot. His mischievous ways made Rangiku smile. Once everyone had retired for the night they stayed up and he spoke about all the different pranks he and his brother did at their time at Hogwarts. He spoke Of Weasley Wizard Wheezes and how Harry was their main benefactor after giving them his triwizard winnings. The blonde especially enjoyed hearing about his antics in the past year. The Potterwatch program that they had set up was inspiring, especially since they so openly mocked the 'Dark Lord'.

Yet Matsumoto could tell that Fred missed his partner in crime. Matsumoto knew that she couldn't understand the bond between twins but she could tell that it hurt for them to be apart, considering that they did everything together.

In an attempt to cheer him up, that night, she had taken him to prank his main competition, Mayrui Kurotsuchi. The fellow inventor was not at all suspicious at the generous offer of a custard cream biscuit that the young wizard offered. When he sprouted yellow feathers he didn't know whether to be angry or intrigued at the invention that the twins had developed. However, upon returning back to his lab to find it filled with what seemed to be strange gnome like creatures that Fred had summoned, his fascination had switched to pure anger. Now the Captain could not wait to get his hands on the wizard. Fred was now his prime candidate for experimentation on.

Whatever it was about the redhead, Matsumoto was captivated. She didn't realize that it seemed so obvious to the Captain of the 6th division.

She sighed as she watched Captain Kuchiki stroll away. Captain Hitsugaya was already mad at her for not doing her morning paperwork but little did he know that she had already done the rest whilst sitting in on the wizards training session that was after lunch. She had only just got away before Captain Kuchiki arrived.

The Captain Kuchiki was right though, she better not be late. She set off grinning.

Won't Taicho be surprised?

* * *

_**Next Time: The Birth of Ulquiorra Cifer?**_

**A/N: Sorry it's another filler, next chapter should have more action, I promise!**

**Just thought I better give reasoning to why I gave the wizards said zanpaktou.**

**Remus: **Ula is a female name meaning 'Wolf power' I saw it fitting that his wolf side becomes his zanpakuto, considering that is part of his soul.

**Tonks: **Fata Morgana is a mirage seen on the horizon. Considering her metamorphagi abilities allow her to constantly to deceive people I saw it fitting.

**Fred: **Well the twin blades is obvious, and the W* is based on the logo on their ties from the 6th film (not its not in the book). 'Yorick' the name of the jester in Hamlet, he's the skull that Hamlet talks to.

**Hermione: **Sheshatnu is actually a combination of two words. Sheshat is the Egyptian goddess of wisdom and writing. Nu is the Egyptian god of watery abyss. Hermione's patronus is an otter so I assume her elemental affinity is water.

**Luna: **I put her as a seer in this story because she has always seemed to have that air of knowing to me. Sybil is name of the divination teacher in Hogwarts but it is also the name of an oracle in ancient Greek times.

**Neville: **Being a Gryffindor I gave him a sword with Lion like characteristics. However due to his love for herbology his zanpakuto has rather deadly abilities to create plants with the similar qualities to the devils snare.

**Ginny: ** Being an excellent chaser in the air and with a patronus of a horse I thought Ginny had many characteristics that showed independence and freedom. Therefore I gave her an elemental affinity of air.


	6. Forgotten

_Previously:_

"_Azien- sama was right," said the approaching figure. The humanoid was wearing white clothes, had grey hair and was smiling rather sinisterly. "You are a special one."_

_The hollow could feel the power radiating of this man and he knew that this man could probably kill him quite easily. But the hollow still stood its ground._

"_So?"_

"_Azien-sama has a proposition for you."_

"_And I would get?"_

"_Power."_

**Chapter 6: Forgotten**

Gin lead the adjuchas across the barren desert for several hours. Las Noches could easily be seen in front of them but it didn't seem to be getting any closer. Finally they eventually seemed to be getting somewhere and the walls started to get larger and larger. When they were about half an hour away from their destination the hollow saw something on the horizon. A huge spectral dog stood watching himself and the shinigami. It had no mask, which confused the hollow a bit, how did a dog get here? He could see that it was standing by a dead hollow. It stopped watching and began carried on eating its kill. A large canine skull was on the floor next to the dog and when the dog finished it put the skull on its head, trying to imitate a hollow.

Gin looked back to see the hollow behind him was not moving. He followed his line of sight to see the dog, complete with mask trotting away along the horizon.

"Ah, you're a lucky one, you've only been a hollow for a few hours and you've already seen the grim shadow. That hollow most difficult to track, quite the mystery," Gin said.

"_But that was not a hollow,"_ the dragon thought.

"We've tried tracking it but its padded footprints disappear quite easily," Gin carried on.

Suddenly a memory flashed in his head.

_A huge dog was hiding in the bushes. Slowly emerging it growled at him and made him jump. The image was slowly disappearing but he could clearly see the words Magnolia Crescent before he was brought back to reality._

Gin frowned at the spaced out hollow.

"Come on, Aizen-sama wants to meet you."

As predicted they were at the entrance within half an hour. Gin paraded through the halls as the large dragon like hollow padded behind him. They reached a huge set of doors that lead into a large throne room.

"Stay here," Gin said. "I need to inform Aizen of your arrival."

The hollow nodded and watched the shinigami disappear behind the door.

Inside the deceitful shinigami captain was waiting for his comrade to turn up.

"You were successful then," Aizen said to the 3rd division captain. The 5th division captain could feel the power that the hollow was radiating form behind the door.

"Yes, Aizen-sama," he replied. "He definitely is special, I think this adjuchas is a newborn hollow. His circumstances are very similar to that of the '_Grim shadow'_."

"I see," Aizen said. "So he has no memories?"

"No," Gin replied. "Do you think he may be one of those wizards?"

"Maybe Gin, with the way his power suddenly appeared I think that this wizarding war has spread to both sides of the spiritual world. His power certainly does feel similar to that which was detected at that wizarding school."

"If that is so he will be a great asset to our plan," Gin smiled at his leader.

"He will," Aizen smiled back. "Bring him in, I wish to speak with him."

Gin nodded and headed back to the entrance of the throne room. He disappeared only to reappear moments later with a medium size adjuchas that resembled a dragon and a bat.

"This is Sōsuke Aizen, the leader of Hueco Mundo," Gin said. The hollow nodded and bowed to the man sat in the throne.

"Sir," it said.

"What is your name hollow?"

"I don't know," he said sounding exasperated making Aizen frown.

"Are you sure?" he pushed.

An image flashed through the hollows head.

"_BOY!" he heard as the wall he could see disappeared into darkness and then could only remember pain. This wasn't his name. Why could he remember these useless echoes but not his name?_

"I am positive," the hollow replied.

"No matter I'm sure you'll come across a name eventually," Aizen said. "Gin said that you have no memories of your life before you woke up tonight."

"No sir," the hollow replied monotonously.

Aizen frowned at the hollow attitude.

"I suppose you want to know why I had you brought here," Aizen said. "I'm setting up an army and I believe that your power would be much appreciated."

The hollow nodded and Aizen carried on.

"I can offer you a power by giving you the powers of the shinigami. This process will be long and painful as we remove your mask and gain your zanpakuto. This will make you an Arrancar you will become much stronger."

"Sorry sir, but what is a zanpakuto?"

"It is the sword used the shinigami, it is an extension of their soul. This process would be easier with the Hōgyoku but the shinigami have hidden it away from us. It is my goal to get the Hōgyoku from the shinigami and make a bigger army. With this we can eradicate the threat that Gotei 13 have placed on the hollows."

"Excuse me sir, but aren't you a shinigami, why are you helping us."

"The interests of Gotei 13 conflict with my own. They believe that humans need to be protected from hollows, I beg to differ." Aizen looked at the hollow, who hadn't moved form the spot he was in.

He frowned at the hollow's emptiness.

"Do you disagree?" He asked.

Another memory flashed through the mind of the hollow.

_A distorted image of a man with a long white beard and the hollow could see a glint of twinkling blue coming from the man. He was talking, but it seemed distorted and then the memory faded out once again._

The hollow looked at the captain trying to recall what the blue twinkling man said.

"I pity the living," the hollow replied. "They cling onto pointless emotions like love and hope. It makes them weak."

Aizen was pleased,

"So I'm assuming that you are willing to follow me in my venture?"

The hollow tilted his head, as if he was confused,

"Why wouldn't I follow you? You are the ruler of this land and it is my duty to do as you say."

Gin smiled more sinisterly,

"Heh, I like this one Aizen."

Aizen smiled at his comment.

"So you are willing to become an Arrancar?"

"Yes sir."

"If you follow me we can begin your transformation," Aizen said. "First you need swear your loyalty."

"I swear," the hollow said. "I will follow only you."

"Good," Aizen said. "This way and we shall begin."

* * *

**A/N: Meh, I'm not very happy with this chapter, but I had to get it out of the way before I could carry on so here it is. **

**Hope you like anyway :D**


	7. The Beginning

**Chapter 6: Beginnings**

1 year later, March 1999

"The situation is more serious than we anticipated," the captain commander announced. "Voldemort has sent off the dementors to attack as many souls and humans as possible. The problem is escalated by the fact that their numbers seem to be rising dramatically."

He looked down to the wizards who were kneeling in the centre of the room surrounded by the captains.

"Since you all have graduated a year earlier than expected we are putting you in the second division in your own special squad. Under the name 'Squad 0' you will go onto the mortal plain to exterminate the dementors and the hollows that they are rounding up. Let me make this perfectly clear, you are not to engage with Voldemort himself; we cannot have the wizarding world interfering with the soul society. Is that understood?"

"Yes sir!" They chorused.

"However, I will be expecting monthly reports on his movements, as we need to keep an eye on him."

"Yes sir!"

"Good the gate is opening in an hour, meeting adjourned."

* * *

This was the last glimpse of the legendary wizard shinigami as they went back to fight the war that they had died for.

* * *

If one were to walk thorough corridor of Las Noches at this moment in time they would be assaulted by the bloodcurdling screams that were echoing throughout the vicinity. It was only the regular footsteps that could that broke the monotony of the torture. Aizen carried down the corridor to check on the progress of his newest Arrancar. Once he reached the room he waltzed straight in to find the floor littered with the corpses of his weaker Arrancar.

He slowly surveyed the damage and was very pleased; his newest recruit was very strong indeed. The screaming had finally stopped and Aizen looked up to see emerald green eyes looking down distastefully to the body hanging limply in his hands.

"I see your transformation has not had any problems," Aizen smiled sinisterly.

"It seems it has, although I don't know why this trash was thrown in with me," the dark haired Arrancar said. His mask, which once resembled a dragon, was now gone, leaving a horned part that resembled a helmet, on the left side of his head. His eyes were still the most beautiful green, with slitted pupils that resembled a snake and two green tear marks ran down each cheek.

"It was just a test of your skill, do you remember anything yet?"

"No sir," the Arrancar replied. "I stopped having flashbacks after I transformed. The memories from before then made no sense whatsoever."

"No matter, we shall worry about that later, you'll need a name," he paused. "You've mastered your Resurrección," the shinigami stated.

"Indeed," the Arrancar replied coldly.

"Come," Aizen said as he left the room. "It is now time for your proper test."

"Yes sir," the Arrancar said following the shinigami.

They arrived at a large hall at the end of the corridor, that was filled with yet more Arrancar.

"Everyone, we have a new Arrancar and he is Espada material," he said to the 6 arrancar. "Do we have any volunteers?" A tall man with an eye patch grinned. Standing up he spoke up,

"I'll do it Aizen-sama."

"Fine Nnoitra," Aizen replied.

"Heh, this won't take long," Nnoitra said as he stared down the emotionless Arrancar in front of him.

The fight didn't last very long as the new Arrancar defeated the current 5th espada. After revealing his Resurrección to the group and many were impressed.

Thinking back to the Espada that resided in Heuco Mundo when he first arrived Aizen smiled, _"The reformation is almost complete,"_ he thought.

"Very good," he said aloud. "I believe that was enough, I believe that we have another Espada. Now where to put you?"

"If I may Aizen-sama," said a shinigami in the shadows.

"Yes Tosen?"

"From what I could feel he has the spiritual power just below Harribel-san. Perhaps we have found our 4th espada?"

I think you are right," Aizen said. "Now what should we call you espada number 4?"

"Ulquiorra," the new Arrancar said. "I shall be called Ulquiorra Cifer."

"So be it," Aizen said as he and Tosen began to leave the room. "It reflects the blackness of your soul."

Ulquiorra silently watched the espada quickly leave after the shinigami.

"You know nothing of my soul," he muttered.

* * *

Only two hollows in all existence had that reiatsu signature and both would become legends. The Grim Shadow… and now Ulquiorra Schiffer, the year old hollow that had become 4th Espada. But the Espada wasn't complete, so they would have to wait a little longer.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry about the shortness, but now all the introductions are done, so on to the next arc!  
**

**Next time it will be a time skip of 6 years to the main story. :D  
**


	8. On the move

**A/N: Just to say thank you for all the lovely reviews so far guys. Sorry the last two chapters where short, but this next one is much longer.**

**Just to point this does not follow canon for the way that Aizen finds his Espada. **

**So now we're at the beginning of the bleach storyline, I'm not sure what date this is meant to be based on so I'm setting it in 2005. **

**That's a 6-year time skip from the last chapter.**

**Hope you like.**

Chapter 8: On the move.

_6 years later:_

"A truck?" Questioned the tall redhead to his father. However, the man stood next to him seemed overly enthusiastic about the situation.

"Yeah a big truck ran into the house last night!" Kurosaki Isshin said to his son as he gestured to the wall. "It's a wonder no one was hurt!" He carried on.

"It's a wonder that no one heard it more like," his daughter said. "Idiot."

"Karin," the other girl said from next to her. "Don't talk to dad like that!"

"Well he is an idiot," the redhead said to his sisters. Isshin took offense to this and ran to a large poster on the wall.

"Oh Masaki your children are so cruel to their father," he cried. "And now there is even less hope of getting neighbors. Next door will never sell and I'll never have anyone kind to talk to."

This hit the nerve with Karin and she lashed out at her father.

"Why don't you worry about our house's resale value, not the neighbors."

Yuzu, Karin's twin sister, was now getting anxious and looked to her brother for help.

"Ichigo," she pleaded. "Please stop them."

Ichigo scowled and went to leave.

"Whatever, I've got to go to school," he said. He picked up his bag and went to swing it over his shoulder, purposefully hitting his dad over the head in the process. "I'm going to be late. And YOU!" he pointed to his father. "Stop being an idiot your upsetting Yuzu."

Kurosaki Ichigo was walking down the street on his way to school. To the normal passerby it would look as though he was perfectly fine. However, his mind was far from settled, and it wasn't the huge hole in his kitchen wall that was troubling him.

Last night his house had been attacked by a huge monster, only to be saved by a short girl with a sword. She claimed to be a shinigami and went to slay the beast but was severely injured. In order to save his family, she gave Ichigo a choice. She could transfer some of her powers into him by stabbing him through the heart, or his family would die. Ichigo had accepted the first choice and turned into a shinigami and quickly killed the beast. However, he doesn't remember much after that. He woke up to find his father claiming that a truck hit the wall, as though he had forgotten the previous nights attack. Ichigo specifically remembers the hollow causing the hole, not a truck, but he was slowly beginning to doubt himself. Had it all been a dream.

After arriving at school he was plagued by his friends asking him whether he was alright. Apparently the news that a truck had hit his house had spread like wildlife. It didn't take long for Ichigo to get seriously annoyed at the constant ranting in his ear, that was until Kuchiki Rukia approached him.

So it wasn't a dream then.

* * *

Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez was not a happy arrancar. He had been found by Ulquiorra Cifer only to be informed that there was a meeting in half an hour. So now he was being dragged to a meeting by the one person he loathed most in this god forsaken place and it was not one of the things he had planned to do today.

There was just something about the fourth espada that Grimmjow did not like at all. About six months ago Aizen had finally managed to find his number one espada, which meant that the newly reformed espada was complete. To celebrate Aizen decided that a massacre of central 46 was in order. With the help of his zanpakuto he sneaked them all in to give them a final test of skill. Grimmjow had not had so much fun in years as he went about this new test. However Ulquiorra was the opposite. Not only had he scolded Grimmjow for making too much mess, but he had also gone about his task in such an emotionless manner that Grimmjow wanted to punch him in the face.

However it wasn't just the way that the forth espada acted that annoyed Grimmjow. It was the fact that he follows Aizen without question. Everyone had their own reasons for following Aizen, whether he offered them power or family, or in Baraggan's case, a chance to get closer to the enemy, but Ulquiorra didn't. From what Grimmjow heard Gin had found Ulquiorra and the fourth just joined without question, he had no selfish reason to join. In fact Ulquiorra had no emotional connection to anything. What was worse was that Aizen seemed to play favorites with Ulquiorra. He wasn't even the top espada so what made him so special?

However, Aizen knew something that Grimmjow didn't know and that Ulquiorra was special. He had finally found out Ulquiorra's identity. He knew that he had to be one of the wizards that died at Hogwarts. After all his appearance did coincide with the deaths of the wizard shinigami. However, he didn't expect Ulquiorra to be the former 'chosen one' of the wizarding world.

Gin had done some digging on the past of the arrancar. When the captain of division 3 found a picture of the famous Harry Potter Aizen did not believe that Gin had the right man. However, upon inspection of the picture the similarities were evident. Ulquiorra looked older than the 17-year-old wizard but he supposed the change was due to his transformation into an arrancar. He did not have the glasses and the scar, and his hair was a little bit longer and his skin was much paler. However, his facial and body structure was the same, and the piercing green eyes had not changed at all.

Now that Aizen had found out that his forth espada was once a wizard, another problem had come for the. Harry Potter was a fighter for the light, so Aizen could not be sure how loyal Ulquiorra would be to him. He was hoping that Ulquiorra's undying loyalty was too good to be true. The hollow had agreed to follow him awfully quickly.

His fears didn't last long though. Aizen managed to interrogate the unsuspecting wizard shinigami and what he had found out had been pleasing. The boy had a tendency to blindly follow his closest figurehead. He followed the headmaster blindly even when the old fool's dark past was revealed. Therefore if Aizen could keep Ulquiorra under his thumb if he could keep the hollow's belief that he was doing the right thing. Furthermore, it was painfully obvious that Ulquiorra did not have the same personality as Harry Potter.

Aizen certainly was very lucky who knew what hidden power the arrancar had, so Aizen would have to keep and close eye on him.

Grimmjow glared at Ulquiorra again, who was still completely ignoring him as they carried walking down the corridor.

"What does Aizen want us for?" Grimmjow nagged.

"No idea," the 4th monotously replied before he carried on with his silence.

'_God,'_ Grimmjow thought. _'If this git socialized a bit more he would be half as annoying.'_

However, Ulquiorra was never around to socialise with his peers. Over the years Ulquiorra trained trying to prove his worth to Aizen. Under his cool exterior was a desperate desire to show that he was not weak trash.

He would leave Las Noches for weeks at a time in order to train and to gather information for Aizen-sama. All alone in the desert of Hueco Mundo Ulquiorra found out a lot about himself. Although he hadn't had a single memory from before he met Aizen. He found that he could talk to the hollowfied reptiles that roam the desert. The snakes especially, were the only creatures that Ulquiorra felt a connection to. Their macabre nature closely resembled his own nature and they were very useful in gathering information for Aizen-sama.

The snakes also helped Ulquiorra discover a second power source within himself. They said that they could sense a power in him that they had felt in some humans when they were alive. Ulquiorra had no idea what they were talking about, but using the power seemed more familiar than when he first tapped into his spiritual power. He managed to harness the power to give his resurrection a second form, and he knew that if he used this power in front of Aizen he could easily be promoted to 1st espada. However, he decided to keep it a secret and focused on training his regeneration.

Now Ulquiorra glanced at the fuming 6th espada, he knew that Grimmjow didn't trust him, but he didn't care. As long as Aizen trusted him Ulquiorra didn't care.

Finally the two had arrived at the meeting room and it wasn't a moment too soon for Grimmjow. They made their way to their seats, which were opposite from each other and sat down to wait for their leader. Five minutes later three shinigami entered and positioned themselves at the head of the table.

"Welcome Espada," Aizen addressed his soldiers. "It seems that we don't have to wait around any more."

He paused to look at the arrancar.

"The Hogyoku is now on the move," he carried on. "It won't be long before we have it in our possession. The three of us will not be here very often in the next two weeks so I'll be counting on you ten to govern Las Noches, and I expect order to be maintained."

"Yes Aizen-sama," the all chorused, which made the three shinigami smile.

"Good, now before we leave," Aizen said. "Lets have some tea."

* * *

"_There's been another prophecy about the chosen one."_

"I know," Luna replied to her Zanpakuto.

"_Are you going to tell them?"_

"You already know my answer," Luna said dreamily.

"_I know, but you should tell them."_

"They will know when the time calls for it," the blonde smiled. "Everything is changing, but I have to let things run their course."

"_Indeed."_

Luna left her mindscape and stood up.

"Where are you going Luna?" Neville asked from next to her. They were sat on Sydney Harbor bridge unnoticed by the city's population below. It had been unusually quiet today.

"I'm going to get ready to go."

Neville still found the girl an enigma and he hated it when she did this. He found the way she always knew quite creepy, but sure enough Fred appeared to talk to them.

"The dementors AND the hollows are heading north," he said to them. "Remus said we are leaving in five minutes."

"O.K." Neville replied.

Why the dementors were heading towards the desert, there was nothing to feed them there.

* * *

_A few weeks later._

Ishida Uryu was now getting really annoyed. If that idiotic redhead did not stop following him he was going to shove one of his Quincy arrows where the sun doesn't shine. However, whilst the thought of causing the shinigami pain was tempting, he knew that wasn't the way to get things done. He called out to Ichigo, who was very shocked that the Quincy had noticed him. This made Ishida rather smug and it made him feel as though he was one up against his mortal enemy. Little did he know that was all going to change.

Gosh that Hollow bait was a BAD idea.

* * *

"Why are we up here sir?" the young Inoue Orihime asked the strange man in the hat and clogs. Whilst she was grateful that the man had saved her she didn't appreciated being kidnapped by the man. However, when she noticed Sado arrive she began to feel a little bit better. If Chad trusted the man, then so could she, and if not Chad could pummel him to the ground … hopefully…

"Just watch," the blonde man said. "Then you can make your decision."

However, this still made no sense. She had not been told what her choice was, or why she was there. They were just stood on the bridge looking down at the park.

What they were doing she did not know, until she saw Uryu and Ichigo fighting off hordes of terrifying monsters. They were the same as the one that attacked her earlier that day. Little did she know that Chad had experienced the same horrors as her that day and was now having the same conflicting thoughts.

However, under the cool exterior of Urahara Kisuke was a panicked man. All this hollow and spiritual activity is sure to bring attention from soul society. Yet it wasn't the fate of Kurosaki Ichigo that worried him. Aizen would now be on the prowl, as the Hogyoku was on the move within Kuchiki Rukia and the attention on the substitute shinigami would be the perfect scapegoat.

When the large Menos Grande stomped onto Karakura Town Kisuke knew he had to have a new plan. There was no way that Gotei 13 could ignore this.

...Little did he know that this plan involved a small black figure that jumped out of the garganta behind the massive hollow...


	9. The tale of the Grimm Shadow

_Previously:_

_When the large Menos Grande stomped onto Karakura Town Kisuke knew he had to have a new plan. There was no way that Gotei 13 could ignore this._

_...Little did he know that this plan involved a small black figure that jumped out of the garganta behind the massive hollow..._

**The tale of the Grim Shadow.**

The veil.

No one knows where it came from, but it has been around since historical records began.

It was known as the gateway to Avalon in the time of King Arthur. The infamous King passed through in hope of finding a paradise. It was also known by the Nordic people as the gateway to Helheim, also known as their Hell dimension [1]. The Egyptian and the Greeks worshipped it and believed that those that could hear the voices were the messengers. With all the interest in the mysterious archway it was inevitable that hostilities grew between the nations. Many fought to keep it to themselves as a weapon and many wished that it destroyed. Countless lives were lost and it was finally taken by the British Wizarding Government and locked away. It was just too dangerous to be in human hands.

So now it lay forgotten under lock and key in the Department of Mysteries.

Every now and then a wizard would try and uncover its secrets, but none were close to the truth.

The truth was that it was a portal to another world. The Nordics were right; it did drag you to a hell on Earth, which was unfortunate because those who passed through never returned to the living plane. This dimension was known as Hueco Mundo, the world of Hollows.

With no memories of their past life, being thrown into a hostile world was not ideal and only the strongest survived. The longer they spent in the land of the Hollows the more the spiritual pressure changed their being. The humans that had survived grew hollow masks and developed hollow powers that surpassed even the strongest Adjuchas Menos. They were not mindless hunger driven beasts. They had managed to keep a glimpse of their humanity, no matter how small. They were Vasto Lorde.

It has been centuries since the last living soul passed through the veil. That was before an unsuspecting man fell through in 1996. This is where the tale of Grim Shadow begins.

* * *

A man slowly regained consciousness in the large expansive desert. He looked around in confusion as he struggled to remember how he got there. The problem was he couldn't remember anything, not even his own name. As he sat up he tried his best to remember but he could only hear the familiar psychotic laughter of a madwoman. It gave him a chill up his spine and he immediately pushed the memory away.

"Well, I better get my bearings," he thought as he stood up and examined his surroundings. He noticed a small stick on the ground beside him, split clean in two. Although he didn't know what it was he was drawn to it, and sure enough when he touched a half he felt a connection.

"What was that?" he said aloud to himself. The power he felt was phenomenal and when he tried to piece the two bits together there was a slight spark.

"Woah," he thought. "I better keep these for later, it may come in handy." He put it in his jacket pocket and finally went on his way.

The expanse of the desert seemed never ending. The man in black just trudged along hoping to find something that could help him. He was thankful that this world seemed to have never-ending nighttime, neither the moon nor the stars moved in the sky. It was though the place was frozen in time. However, now the man was getting hungry and thirsty, but he hadn't seen anything at all in the desert since his arrival.

After what felt like hours he finally saw something on the horizon. Hopefully it could be something that he could hunt but the man seriously doubted it by the way the figures were purposefully heading towards him. He immediately ran and hid behind a huge rock that was jutting out of the ground. Remaining absolutely still and silent he hoped they wouldn't notice him. Unfortunately he wasn't that lucky.

"Look boys, it appears that we've got ourselves a meal," a harsh voice said from above. [2]

The man's head darted up to see a monster with a hole in its chest. It looked at him in confusion.

"What are you?" it asked.

"I could ask you the same question," the man replied.

"You don't know what we are?" the monster looked at him quizzically. "We are hollows. Not that it will matter since we're going to eat you."

"We?" the man raised an eyebrow, causing the hollow to grin sadistically.

"Yes we," it said as the rest of the pack emerged and surrounded the man on the ground.

"You'll taste nice, you have a weird scent about you," it said as it motioned for it's subordinates to attack.

Immediately the man's instincts hit in, he went to grab the stick in his pocket but then he realised that it wouldn't be much use. As the adrenaline raced through his system he felt a spark in his fingertips.

As the first hollow went to lunge at his head he forgot about reaching for the stick and brought his hand up and shouted the first thing that came into his mind.

"Stupefy!" the man shouted as a red blast of energy left his hand and hit the hollow away. The remaining two subordinates faltered for a second but once again closed in. The man once again brought his hand up and shouted the first thing that came to his mind.

"Pertificus Totalus!" Another hollow fell to the ground, as stiff as a board.

"What did you do?" the final lackey said in shock.

"I don't know," he replied. "I can't remember anything. I just woke up in this desert."

"Never mind that, just get him," the leader said from his vantage point. Nodding the hollow ran toward the man with his teeth bared.

"Levicorpus!" the man shouted. The hollow was heaved into the air by his ankle. The man smirked but was taken by surprise by the hollow he had stunned. It had woken up and pounced at him and he dodged swiftly surprising himself. He didn't realize that he could move that fast but when he looked down he found out why. He had paws! Somehow he had managed to turn himself into a dog.

"This will work," the dog thought. "I can move around with more stealth like this."

Smirking he looked up at the stunned looking hollows. The leader hollow leaped down from his rock and smiled.

"I knew you would be a tasty one, such unique power. It's a shame you'll be dead soon."

The dog growled in response. He had to take down all the hollows if he was to get away. Once again his instincts kicked in and he remembered something that he could use. As they drew in he was reminded of ominous hooded creatures that had once reached out to him.

"Happy thought," he said to himself. "A big juicy steak, running in a field free as a bird, laughter, stag …wolf … dog…"

"That's it!" He thought as his whole body began to glow. The monsters were almost upon him.

"Expecto Patrounum!" The dog screamed in his head as the most peculiar thing happened. A silver duplicate leaped from the dog's body and ran towards the hollows. It bowled them down and knocked them all out. The only one that remained conscious was the one in the body bind and it looked on in horror.

As the sliver dog disappeared the black dog sighed.

"Well I may not know where or who I am, but at least I know their weakness," he thought. "Better get away before they wake up."

He went to trot away until his stomach rumbled and he realised he was still hungry. He reluctantly looked at the hollows. Go he was hungry, but those hollows didn't look very appetizing.

"Oh well," he thought. "They were going to eat me."

He walked up to the leader.

"When in Rome," and he took a big bite of the monster. The immobilized hollow just looked in horror as the dog/man devoured their leader. When he finished the body disintegrated, and he ran off with his hunger satiated.

* * *

A few months in this strange land the huge black dog had made quite a name for himself. After leaving those three hollows alive, rumours of his strange powers spread and more hollows went looking for him. None of them lasted very long as the ordinary looking dog killed them swiftly. He left most of the corpses for the scavengers, but when the hollows came across the destruction the dog was nowhere to be seen.

He had become a legend in Hueco Mundo known as the Grim Shadow. The dog that had the soul of a human and that outclassed the Adjuchas class hollow.

Now the Grim Shadow trotted through he desert. He hadn't changed from his dog form since that first attack, he found it easier to remain in the shadows and away from the hollows.

Although that didn't matter anymore he didn't have to hide as much anymore. Just the other day he came across the man in the forests below. To say that the man was a bit shocked to come across a seemingly normal dog was an understatement, but then he realised that it was the elusive Grim Shadow.

The Grimm found it hard to trust the man, but he seemed to want to help him.

Flashback 

"_So you're the Grim Shadow," man said. "You don't seem like much do you?"_

_The dog growled._

"_So you do understand, is it true that you can transform into a human?"_

_The dog carried on growling and the strange man could feel him gathering power._

"_Wait! I'm not a hollow. I'm not your enemy." The man backed up causing the dog to stop and look at him quizzically. _

"_My name is Ashido Kano. I'm a shinigami. I'm just as trapped as you are!"_

_This made the dog cautiously step closer and stiff the shinigami. When finished the Grimm lay down and stared intently at Ashido._

"_So you are human?"_

_The dog nodded. _

"_Can't you change for me?"_

_The dog growled again and it's hackles went up. _

"_O.K. O.K., it's just nice to have company that's not trying to kill me."_

_His hackles went down and the dog inched a bit closer. He looked up to the shinigami, prompting him to continue his story. Taking a deep breath Ashido started his story, explaining what he was and how he and his team were assigned on a mission to Hueco Mundo. He explained how his friends died one by one and how he was trapped. The Grimm listened intently and slowly got closer as his trust strengthened. By the time Ashido had finished the story the dog was right next to him. _

"_So what about you?" Ashido said. "Is it true that you have no memory?"_

_The dog nodded. _

"_Are you sure your human?"_

_The dog nodded again. _

"_Then how are you a dog?"_

_The dog's eyes lit up and he stood up, wagging his tail. He gathered up enough energy to perform a spell. Suddenly a nearby rock transformed into a scroll and the dog grinned. He picked up the scroll and gave it to the man. Ashido was stunned. Slowly he reached for the scroll and opened to find his answer written on it. It said only one word. _

_Magic._

"_So you're a wizard?"_

_The dog shrugged and Ashido frowned._

"_Memory loss?"_

_The dog nodded. _

"_You must be a wizard. I mean I've heard about their legend, but I never thought that I would actually meet one. You see when they die they don't pass on to Hueco Mundo or the Soul Society. Their souls become unstable and they are transported to another dimension, destroyed or turned into ghosts. Which must mean that you are still alive."_

_The dog tilted his head. _

"_Which brings up the question… How are you here?"_

_The dog was now looking at him intently. _

"_I suspect the however you got here, that is the reason for you memory loss."_

_The dog nodded in agreement and they sat in silence. _

_They stayed around Ashido's fire overnight and ate in silence, enjoying each other's company. However by time morning came around the Grimm felt the need to leave. He was stopped by the shinigami who looked at him sternly. _

"_Here," he said as a put a skull on the dogs head. "Now you look like a proper hollow."_

_The dog whined. _

"_You'll be able to get around easier now. Thank-you for the company," the dog wagged his tail. "Stay safe."_

Flashback end.

So now the dog was walking along with his mask and felt much more at ease. Now it was time to hunt.

* * *

Two years had passed since the Grim Shadow appeared. His infamy had spread and now the whole of Hueco Mundo knew of his name. He was avoided my most of the hollow, which meant that it was much more difficult to find his prey. However the dog didn't mind, he found the hunt much more fun this way.

Over the years he had noticed that there were more shinigami roaming the desert, but he tried to avoid them. There were rumours that these shinigami were recruiting hollows and the Grimm didn't like that one bit.

When he first caught a glimpse of these men, he knew that they were different. They had an aura that was much more hateful than Ashido. However, he did keep an eye on them as they could travel between the worlds freely. The Grimm needed to work out their secret so he could escape this hell.

Being in Hueco Mundo for such a prolonged time did have an effect on the wizard. His magic was getting stronger and more hollow-like. This did make him more feared by the hollows, but the dog feared that he was turning into a monster himself.

He was now resting in a shelter in the desert. He was becoming more and more obsessed with finding out how to leave this world. His loneliness was eating away at him and he feared he was going mad. This did not help when all of a sudden his vision went blurry before finding himself in a strange place, surrounded by stonewalls.

He was no longer in his canine form and he started to panic. Where was he? How did he get here?

"SIRIUS!" the wall s echoed as someone shouted from behind him. The man spun around to see 3 people standing at the other side of the room. They seemed familiar, but he couldn't remember.

"Who are you?" the Grimm demanded.

"Sirius don't you remember?" one of the men asked. "It's me James."

The Grimm stared blankly at him. He had no idea what he was talking about.

"James," the other man interrupted. "He went through the veil. Sirius probably lost his memories somehow. No-one really knows what's behind there."

"So he's lost his memories," the woman said. "How do we get them back? We could trigger his subconscious into remembering who we are."

"Well were do we start?" James said. "We've missed so much of Padfoot's life who knows what will trigger the memories?"

The Grim Shadow now froze in shock. Every muscle in his body seemed to seize up.

"Padfoot?" he muttered and everyone turned back to him in curiosity. That name seemed familiar, was that his name?

"Yes that's right," the Grim Shadow thought. "Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs. I'm Padfoot. I'm Sirius Black!" At that moment all his memories from his previous life came flooding back and Sirius clutched his head. It ended with a pair of green eyes watching in despair as he fell through the veil.

"Ow," he groaned and the woman came to his side.

"Are you alright Sirius?" She asked in a worried tone.

"Yeah," he replied. "It's just remembering your who life at once can give you one hell of a headache."

The woman's eyes lit up and the other two came rushing towards them.

"Well that was easier than expected," she said.

"Easy for you to say Lily, but as I said before… OW!"

"Good to have you back," James said before friendly slapping his back.

Sirius shook his head and came back to his senses.

"What's going on?" he said. "Your dead."

"We are," Lily replied.

"And Moony?" Sirius questioned as he turned to the final member of the group.

"I'm afraid so," Remus said. "Only for a few minutes or so. All I remember is seeing my body before being summoned here."

"What's going on?"

"Hopefully the FINAL Battle," Remus said. "Voldemort has attacked Hogwarts."

"What!"

"Harry has summoned us with the resurrection stone," Lily said.

"But I'm not dead."

"Living in the world of the hollows has classed you as dead. Even though you still have your body and can still be seen by mortals, your presence there is slowly turning you into one of them," a voice from behind them said. It was Dumbledore. "You are technically dead Sirius."

"Oh," he said rather light-heartedly. "Bugger."

Lily was getting restless.

"Albus, what are you doing here?" She demanded. "We can't wait any longer. Harry needs us."

"No need to worry Lily, this dimension has a different concept of time. You'll arrive seconds after he summoned you. But first I have been sent to inform you of what Harry has to do," Dumbledore replied.

During the next ten minutes the old headmaster explained what Harry was going to do and why. There was much protect, and Albus' patience was wearing thin.

"There is nothing you can do," the older man said sternly. "Harry needs you to be there for him. He's afraid. You need to comfort him."

The Marauders looked ashamed and found their astral shoes rather interesting at this point, but Lily was still furious.

"Now listen here Dumbledore I…" but Albus stopped her mid flow.

"I'm sorry Lily, but its time," he said with a slight twinkle in his eye. "Remember brave faces." With a brief wave he watched the four friends disappear to meet Harry.

"Sneaky git," Sirius thought as he materialized in the forbidden forest.

"Oh boy this is definitely not good," he thought before turning to his Godson with the rest. Sirius did not like what he saw. Harry looked exhausted, he was covered in burns, blood and dirt and there were huge bags under his eyes. It looked as though he had not had a proper nights rest for a very long time.

Sirius quickly put on a brave face and smiled at the boy. He waited for someone to make the first move.

[3]

"You've been so brave." Sirius turned to Lily, who was smiling the widest. Then James took over.

"Your nearly there. We are so proud of you."

He could tell that Harry was really struggling to keep his composure.

"Does it hurt?" Harry asked.

Sirius' heart broke; his Godson should not have to go through this.

"Dying?" Sirius contemplated the question. He still didn't class himself as dead, or did he? He had lost his memory for so long. That was similar to dying. He was dead, but now he has got his memory back, it is like he was living again. "Not at all. Quicker and easier than falling asleep."

"And he will want it to be quick. He wants it over," Remus said next to him.

That said, neither of them were convinced by their own words.

"I didn't want you to die, any of you," Harry said back. "I'm sorry… right after you'd had your son, Remus I'm sorry."

At this Sirius froze. Remus had just had a son? Oh Merlin, were the Marauders cursed?

"I'm sorry too," Moony replied. "Sorry I will never know him, but he will know why I died and I hope he will understand I was trying to make a world in which he could live a happier life."

Harry seemed to calm down a fraction.

"You'll stay with me?" A stupid question in Sirius' mind.

"Until the very end," clarified his father.

"They won't be able to see you?"

"We are a part of you," Sirius remembered what Dumbledore had said. "Invisible to anyone else."

"Stay close to me," Harry asked before heading deeper into the forest.

Sirius couldn't stand the silence. This was happening too fast and he didn't think he could stand to watch Harry die. It didn't help that the dementors gave him the feeling of being back in Hueco Mundo. He wanted to take them down like he had done for the last 2 years, but he couldn't access his magic in this spectral form. Sirius never felt so hopeless.

He was ripped from his thoughts when Harry stopped. A couple of Death Eaters could be heard from a nearby tree muttering about whether Harry was going to appear. Carrying on they came to an open expanse. Sirius could tell that the Arcomantula had been around here. Their thick webs surrounded the area.

All five of them stopped again. It seems that Voldemort was having a conversation with his death eaters. I could hear Harry's erratic breath beside him and I looked at him in concern. He still hadn't come out from his invisibility cloak as Sirius' treacherous cousin spoke.

"I was, it seems … mistaken," Sirius heard Voldemort say.

"You weren't," Harry said as clear as day.

Everything seemed to go in slow motion. All they could do was watch helplessly as Harry pulled off his invisibility cloak and confront Voldemort. He watched as the stone fall from Harry's fingers. Sirius wanted to scream as he felt himself being dragged away, before finally everyone he loved disappeared and he was flung into the sands of Hueco Mundo.

"Damn it!" He screamed as he smashed his fists into the sand. "Harry!"

His screams echoed through the large expanse of the desert, but at that moment he didn't care.

Why did he do it? Why did he just take his Godson to his death? He should have ignored Dumbledore's words. He should have told Harry to turn around and save his own neck.

This was just too much for the animagus and he put his head in his hands and sobbed. He'd just got his memories back all at once. He'd been reunited with his loved ones only to have them taken away in an instant. Not only that, he has found out that he is slowly dieing in this world and will turn into one of the monsters that roam this land.

Now he had his memory back he didn't know how he could survive. However he now had a reason to leave. He had to get back no matter what. Maybe then he would be able to help in some manner. What if they failed and Harry died in vain.

Yes he had to get back.

He was abruptly pulled out his reverie as a shrill hollow scream reached his ears. Apparently he had attracted a lot of attention. Sirius cursed when he realised that he had let his magic run wild and he quickly suppressed it. However, it was too late. A huge Adjuchas was heading towards him.

This was bad. If had let his magic attract such a large hollow, who knows how many more would come. He had nowhere to hide and he was not in the mood for this at all.

He was lucky enough to surprise the creature though. Sirius prepared for a full assault but the hollow came to an abrupt stop. It tilted its head to the side in curiosity, but Sirius couldn't understand why it looked so startled.

"Human," it growled as drool dripped from his mouth.

"Huh?" Sirius said, but then he realised that hollows were not used to seeing humans in Hueco Mundo. He did go around as a dog all the time after all. The thought highly amused him. This hollow obviously didn't consider him a threat at all because he looked like a human and as a consequence thought he could play around with his food a little.

Time to have some fun; he was a Marauder after all.

Sirius burst out laughing, and the hollow was taken aback.

"I've got to hand it to you," Sirius giggled, but even through his smile his eyes were cold and empty. "You've really cheered me up."

Now the Hollow was really confused, his dinner should not be laughing like a lunatic.

"I've just had the shittiest hour in my life and I'm kind of frustrated," he continued. "You'll be the perfect candidate to vent out said frustration.'

"Like a mere human can be a threat to a hollow," it sneered back.

"True," Sirius replied. "But are you willing to test that theory?"

The hollow growled once again and pounced towards Sirius, who merely dodged and smiled.

"So sorry, where are my manners," Sirius said. "My name is Sirius Black, and you are?"

"I'm your executioner, that's all you need to know," the hollow said.

"Humph, how rude," Sirius replied as the hollow came towards him again with his teeth bared. Sirius smiled and cast a silent Levicorpus charm and the hollow flew into the air. The stunned creature dangled there helplessly.

"It's a shame you decided to find me on the only day I've ever been in human form since I arrived in this Godforsaken place 2 years ago."

"What?" the hollow gasped. "Who are you?"

"I just told you I'm Sirius Black," he replied. "So as I was saying I've had a really shitty day and here I was thinking that you would provide a challenge."

Black flicked his wrist before turning his back and walking away. The hollow fell to the floor with a loud thump, which only aggravated the hollow even further. It growled and pounced at the human.

Sirius smiled as he sensed the hollow getting closer. He realised that he may find his life a bit easier now that he remembered all his magical education from his 'previous life'. What a better chance to test this out than now.

POP!

The hollow fell headfirst into the sand. The human had disappeared and the hollow looked around frantically to find out where he went.

POP! POP!

A huge black dog snapped at his legs before disappearing again.

"What the?" The hollow said before coming face to face with piercing blue eyes. The hollow blinked and they were gone.

"Shit!" The hollow exclaimed and he ran away as fast as possible, only to fin the human beside him.

"Why are you running away?" Sirius asked. "I was just having fun."

POP!

The man disappeared and the black dog was running on his other side. It snapped at his legs again and the hollow tripped, ploughing into the ground. Quickly trying to recover it looked around frantically for the man or the dog but they were nowhere to be seen. It turned to look behind him, but they weren't there.

"SO the big bad hollow is afraid," said a voice in front of him. The hollow stiffened before turning to face Sirius. The man towered over the hollow that was paralysed on the floor.

"Where is the dog?" It asked.

"You mean the Grimm?" The hollow went slightly green. "He's nearby."

"The Grim Shadow?" It whimpered.

"Don't worry. He won't come unless I ask him to."

Sirius grinned evilly as the hollow growled.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means nothing," Sirius replied.

Finally managing to move the hollow grew desperate. It couldn't get away from this human and he seemed to be in alliance with the feared Grim Shadow. He couldn't run away. It had to stand its ground. Cero was it's final stand.

However Sirius had noticed that the hollow was building up a cero and decided to put a stop to it. With another flick of his wrist he cast a disarming spell. He didn't know whether it would work but he couldn't afford to knock it out just yet. The hollow was confused when it felt all its energy drain away.

"Why?" It asked.

"Why what?" Sirius asked back.

"Why didn't you kill me straight away?"

"Because I needed to have a good prank. I haven't had one since my best friend was murdered, my other friend betrayed me and I was thrown into Azkaban prison for over a decade. Like I said I needed to vent out my frustration," Sirius kneeled to look the hollow in the eyes. "Thank-you. Do you know how difficult it is to regain all your memories to find that your final friend is dead and your godson is going to be executed? Two whole years I have been in this godforsaken place without knowing who I was or why I could do magic." Tears began to fall as Sirius began to remember all he has lost. "I thought I was free but I've been thrown back here in a form I haven't used in two years."

"What do you mean by that?"

Sirius just ignored the hollow.

"I'm fed up of being feared. I was feared for being a mass murderer, even though I am innocent. I was feared when I escaped and I am feared here!" Sirius paused. He could sense 2 powerful spiritual pressured approaching. "I suppose there is one good thing about me getting my memories back," he said as he wiped the tears away. "I now have a reason to leave. Now tell me how to get out of Hueco Mundo."

"What?"

"How do I get out of Hueco Mundo?"

"I don't know." Sirius scowled and cast a ribbon-cutting hex.

"Really?" he asked.

"I really don't know. Sometimes hollows escape when there is an anomaly in the dimensional pressure but that rarely happens."

"Shame," Sirius said. The spiritual signatures were getting closer. He had to finish up. With an impressive display of wandless magic he charged his Patronus whilst turning into Padfoot. The hollow only had in instant to register that he was being toyed with the Grim Shadow; he was hit with the powerful Patronus and knocked unconscious. Sirius was now beginning to panic. He needed to eat his fill and go, but he realised that his mask that Ashido had given him was gone.

"Accio mask," he thought as Padfoot, before he started to tear into his meal. Anxiously waiting for his hollow mask to arrive Padfoot began to wonder whether it was on the other end of Hueco Mundo. It had to get there soon because the two beings with extraordinary high spiritual pressure were nearly in sight. A large dragon creature and a humanoid appeared just as his mask did.

After taking one last bite out of his meal he put his mask on. He looked up to find that he was being watched. The humanoid was one of the shinigami that had been causing trouble with the hollows. He did not want to get involved with them so Padfoot made a swift exit. He ran about 100 metres before apparating far away from the shinigami and his pet.

Sirius sat and contemplated the situation of the shinigami. They had been up to now good since before he had arrived, but they managed to move between worlds with ease.

"That's settled then," he thought. "If the shinigami know how to get out of Hueco Mundo. I will find out their secret."

* * *

Seven Years Later:

Tailing the shinigami had not been as easy as Sirius had thought. It turns out that the shinigami were Captains of Gotei 13 in the Soul Society. Their leader Sosuke Aizen was causing nothing but trouble. The news was that he was creating arrancar and they went round massacring the gangs of hollow that opposed him.

He had not seen any of the shinigami since the day he got his memories back. It wasn't like he hadn't tried. He'd made it his job to hunt them down but Sirius had a feeling that Aizen wasn't even in Hueco Mundo half the time.

The closest he got was capturing two unranked arrancar unawares. Their inexperience was laughable, but Sirius managed to detain the hollows long enough to get some information on the activities in Las Noches. It turns out that Aizen was creating arrancar to set up an army against the Soul Society. The information wasn't what Sirius needed but he kept it in mind, just in case Ashido turned up again.

Padfoot also found out that there were a group of arrancar that were rumored to have power greater than that of some of the shinigami captains. Sirius knew that he couldn't match up to them so from then on he knew to avoid any nearby arrancar.

Once the interrogation ended Sirius finished the job. They had made an amazing meal. Their spirit particle concentration was so high that he didn't need to hunt for weeks.

That was three years ago and Sirius was getting frustrated. He had not gotten any new information since his encounter with the weakling arrancar, and he was no closer to getting out of this hell.

So now in the dense underground forest of Hueco Mundo, Sirius Black was trotting in the shadows as he went on his search. He had completely masked his spiritual signature to avoid detection of the large hollows that lurked here. He hated it down in the forests; it was darker and gloomier than up top. However today was different, Sirius had heard a riot down in the lower levels and he immediately apparated to find them disappearing behind a closing gargantuan gate.

"Damn it!" Sirius thought as he went to investigate. His large black form loped between shadows, in hope of finding more. The area was soaked in spiritual pressure that didn't belong. Yet he couldn't place it.

"Just my luck," Sirius thought. "Hundreds of hollows just got out of Hueco Mundo and I miss the bus."

He stopped and pricked his ears. The spiritual pressure was stronger to his right, and he could swear that he heard a hollow screeching. A huge rush of adrenaline surged through him and he blindly followed the trail.

"This is it!" Sirius said to himself. "I'm getting out of here. I can eat normal food. The sun. I'll finally be able to see the sun! And grass! And rain and flowers and people and…" The Grimm skidded to a halt.

"Oh shit!" he thought. He had blindly run into a horde of Menos Grande and they all were in frenzy. Taking a few breaths to calm himself, Padfoot began to emerge from the shadows. "This seems to be the centre of the power anomaly. How do I get pass them?"

At that moment one of the hollows turned to look directly at him, and charge a Cero. Without having time to think, he quickly dodged and apparated onto the head of the large hollow. Now that he had a good view of the heard his jaw dropped. He did no know how he was going to find a portal in all of this. Putting on a disillusionment charm on his fur he set off, jumping on the heads of the hollows. The further he got into the horde higher the spiritual pressure got until Sirius saw the change. One of the hollows had managed to open up a huge gargantuan gate, about 200 metres away.

Hot on its heels Sirius apparated to its feet. The problem was that the huge hollow was taking up the whole gate and he couldn't squeeze through. Shaking off his disillusionment charm Padfoot tries to provoke the hollow only to have it ignore him.

"Why of all times!" Sirius sighed.

Taking a large leap he climbed up the back of the hollow as he saw an opening at its shoulder. Black paws hit black fabric and the Grim Shadow disappeared into the gate. The first thing Sirius noted was that he was falling in endless darkness. It was alarming to say the least, but he stopped falling when he landed abruptly in the shoulder that he originally leapt off. The hollow was slowly making his way forward and Sirius assumed that this was part of the void. He had no idea how to cross so he sat quietly waiting for his journey to end.

After ten minutes passed and Sirius began to panic. He couldn't feel any change in spiritual pressure and was beginning to believe that he had made the wrong choice and as the adrenaline wore off the wizard was getting tired.

The will to stay awake was slowly disappearing until a bright light appeared in front of them. The hollow let out a spike of spiritual pressure and reached towards the thin slither of light. Its huge hand pried into he portal and pulled it away, like opening a curtain.

With a fresh rush of energy Sirius tried to stand up. The hollow jerked forward to its head through the portal, which made Sirius loose his footing and fall down its back. Desperately scrabbling with his claws and teeth, Sirius grabbed onto the fabric trying to make his way back up the monster's back.

It now had half its body out and once Sirius got back to the shoulder he sighed. He could see the human world once again. There were trees and high-rise buildings in his line of vision. He looked down and saw a shinigami and some humans getting ready to attack.

"Oh dear," Sirius thought. He did not want to get involved with them, so he needed to get down.

If he was thinking clearly he would have apparated, but he wasn't. He scrambled down the side of the hollow, hoping that no one would see him. It was quite a fall and his blunt claws grasped on the hollows black cloak as he slid down. Within mere seconds he was free and he was running towards the woods, leaving the shinigami and his friends unaware.

…

Once the first sign of light began to seep above the horizon Sirius ventured out of the forest. He had napped in the forest after running away from the Menos Grande. The animagus was exhausted, but when he caught a glimpse of sunlight he was wide-awake. The park had a field in the centre and Sirius leaped through the meadow in glee. He had gotten rid of his mask in the void so to a normal passerby it would look like a normal dog enjoying the morning dew. The dog leaped and bounded across the short grass. He disrupted a pack of bird nearby and began to chase them. The higher they got, the higher he jumped, playfully snapping his jaws.

Forgetting humanity for the moment he bowed down in play as the flock landed nearby, as if mocking him. The canine bounced forward and the birds scattered. After a few more tries he seemed to grow bored and ungraciously collapsed on the grass to sunbathe.

Little did he know that there was a black cat curiously watching from the shade of a nearby tree. It's golden eyes sparked with interest at the behaviour of the large canine. Never before had she seen a domestic dog act towards birds that way. She had heard of such behaviour between wolf and raven, but it was not in the dog's behaviour to show such behaviour to potential prey. They just don't have the mutual understanding between predator and scavenger. For a start the initial relationship between wolf and raven was based on the symbiotic understanding on hunting in the wild. The bird would find the prey and the wolves would kill and leave the leftovers.

The cat knew that most of these wild behaviours had been bred out of dogs thousands of years ago. Their original purpose was for hunting and mindlessly killing for man. The dog would have either maliciously killed the birds or ignored them.

Therefore she came to the conclusion that this do had either had been part of a wolf pack or that this dog was not what he seemed… like herself.

Her best friend, Urahara Kisuke, had told her that a black dog had escaped from Hueco Mundo last night, when the Menos Grande ripped its way through to the mortal plain. No one else had claimed to see him, so she had been quite skeptical at first. However she had felt the stranger's fluctuation in spiritual pressure in the park, only to find this mutt playing with the park's resident birds. She needed to see if this dog was threat, but she sincerely doubted it.

…

After his stint in the park Padfoot had decided that he needed to go on the search for food. It wasn't that he was in hungry, but he had spent so long living of hollow meat, he had longed for human food, no matter how bad it was. He still could remember how he had managed to survive when he was on the run, so he knew exactly were to go. The alleys of the town were not very glamorous, but it allowed him to stay out of sight. Alleys like this were a small haven for strays. The nearby restaurant ensured that there was a plentiful supply of edible food in the bins.

Using wandless magic, the lid of the dumpster opened and Padfoot jumped in. Unfortunately his choice of dumpster was not the best and the food looked rather unappetizing, but at this point Sirius didn't care.

"Heh," he thought. "I couldn't really sink any further."

A meager scrap of ham slid down his throat. How he missed the taste of normal meat.

"You know, I know of a place where you can go and get a proper meal," a deep baritone voice rang from above.

Sirius' head darted up in shock. How could he have been so foolish, letting his guard down like that? He had not noticed anyone approach and he could have been ambushed, then what would he have done?

Above was a black cat that seemed perfectly balanced, as it lazily sprawled over the edge of the opened dustbin lid. He let out a low guttural growl at the feline, whom did not react to the treat.

"My friend said you came out of last nights gargantuan," the cat said. "Yet you are not a hollow. It must have been torture to be stuck in Hueco Mundo where you obviously don't belong."

Sirius relaxed slightly, but he didn't stop growling. His ears were flat back and his hackles were raised, and he looked up with intelligent eyes.

"Just as I thought," the cat thought. "He is much more than he seems… Maybe different tactics are in order. "

"We believe that Sosuke Aizen is in Hueco Mundo planning the demise of the Souls Society," she said. "Maybe you have some information that could help us?"

She tilted her head in curiosity before carrying on.

"Information in exchange for a hot meal perhaps?"

Sirius narrowed his eyes in suspicion, but decided that he could at least try to get along with the cat. It was a good offer, so he nodded. The cat mewed and stood up.

"Good," she said. "My name is Shihoin Yoruichi, welcome to Karakura town. Follow me."

Sirius complied and followed the cat.

She took him through the dark alleyways of town. She didn't want anyone seeing them because a black cat and dog walking together was not a normal sight. Not only was it not natural, but also people may think of it as a bad omen. The problem was that the alleyways were also were most of the hollows hunted.

Sirius and Yoruichi had masked their spiritual pressure to a normal human amount, which meant that they could be classed as fair prey to any nearby hollow. It wasn't long before they came across one.

Yoruichi sensed the beast long ago, but felt that this would be a good opportunity to test the dog. However, Sirius had also sensed it and was all to ready for the attack.

"Awww," the hollow moaned. "I thought I was going to get a tasty human, but all I get is a cat and a mangy dog. That's not going to fill me up."

Sirius' hackles rose and he growled menacingly at the monster, whereas Yoruichi's eyes gleamed with amusement.

"I think you have more worries than that hollow," she said. "Shouldn't you be wondering why a cat and dog have enough spiritual pressure to attract you?"

The hollow tilted its head in confusion.

"Does it matter?" it asked. However before Yoruichi could reply Sirius attacked. A blasting hex hit the hollow in the kneecaps and it fell to the ground. The hound apparated towards the disabled hollow and it looked directly into the hollows eyes. Sirius caught a glimpse of recognition.

"The Grim Shadow, impossible," it stuttered. "How did you get out of the desert?"

"My guess is the same way as you," Yoruichi replied as Sirius gathered happy thoughts for a Patronus. Within moments a silver dog attacked the hollow and knocked him out. Sirius jumped ahead and ripped the hollows throat out and it fell to the floor lifelessly before slowly disintegrating into dust.

Yoruichi sat stunned. That test went better than she had ever dreamed.

"Come on," she said. "We are nearly there." She trotted away and then spoke over her shoulder. "We can talk there."

* * *

"So," Yoruichi said as she trotted into the backroom of the sweetshop. "How about a trade."

The dog tilted his head in curiosity, but the cat just grinned and disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Within seconds a figure of a very beautiful woman became visible as the mist dispersed. Padfoot's jaw dropped when he noticed that she was stark naked. He shook his head out of his reverie.

"Well," he thought. "It seems that a trade is fair enough."

So within seconds he transformed back into his human form. There were no theatrics or clouds of smoke.

"Well my trick isn't as good as yours," he said. "But I don't think you'd want to see me naked."

He grinned mischievously as he flattened out his ragged clothing. It was the same clothing that he wore when he fell through the veil.

"Well at least it isn't my prison rags," he thought as he cast a few cleaning and ironing charms on the offending pieces of clothing. He looked up to see Yoruichi putting on her clothes that seemed to have _magically_ appeared out of nowhere.

"Forgive me, where are my manners!" Sirius exclaimed s he put up his full Marauder front. "My name is Sirius Black, it's a pleasure to meet you."

Yoruichi smiled.

"Such a gentleman! As you already know Black-san, I'm Shihoin Yoruichi," she said. "And I believe you have some explaining to do."

"How do I know that I can trust you?" Sirius asked.

"Well you can't," Yoruichi said. "But you see I was asked by my friend to find you. Kisuke saw you leave the gargantuan when Ichigo and Ishida were fighting the Menos Grande."

"The shinigami?"

"Yes Ichigo is a shinigami substitute. Kisuke and I were also Shinigami, but Kisuke was banished when a man called Sosuke Aizen framed him for turning some of our colleagues into hollows."

The man's head shot up.

"Aizen?"

"You know of Aizen?"

"Yeah, he's created an arrancar army in Hueco Mundo!"

"Then we definitely have a lot to talk about," said a voice from behind.

A tall man stood at the doorway, he was wearing a green and white hat, raised clogs and had a fan covering the lower half of his face. Beside him stood an even bigger man holding a tray of freshly coked food.

"Yoruichi-sama informed me that you needed some food when you both arrived," said the large man. "I didn't have a lot of time but I hope this is sufficient Mr. Black."

"Sorry for the wait I had to finish some inventory in the back. My name is Urahara Kisuke and his is my assistant Tsukabishi Tessai," said the blonde man with the hat. Tessai placed the tray of food in front of Sirius.

"Thanks," he looked up gratefully as he began to tuck into his food.

"It seems we have a lot to talk about Mr. Black."

Sirius nodded.

"Please, just call me Sirius, Mr. Urahara."

"Oh, how very British," Urahara laughed.

"Oh yeah…" Sirius paused. "How is it that I can understand you? Your obviously not speaking English."

Yoruichi smiled and explained the theory on the connection between those in soul society and how they understand each other; due to Sirius' time in Hueco Mundo he had developed this connection.

After Yoruichi had finished her explanation Sirius had cleared the plates of his food and began his story. They began with his imprisonment when he was 21. The he explained how he fell through the veil after he had escaped from prison. He gave details on his stay in Hueco Mundo. He explained that he was a wizard and his escaped.

When Sirius has finished Urahara explained everything that was going on in Karakura town. He told Sirius about Ichigo and Rukia and what had happened the night before. He spoke of Soul Society, just as Ashido had, and Sirius finally felt that he could trust these strangers. Finally he got into the subject of Sosuke Aizen. Urahara spoke of Aizen's betrayal and he was curious to hear about his activities in Hueco Mundo Sirius explained that he knew little, but it still seemed to be enough for Urahara.

"So," the storeowner said. "I have a favor to ask you Sirius. Could you stay and aid us with the fight against Aizen?"

Sirius froze. He couldn't stay here. He had finally gotten back from hell and he had to find out what had happened at the 'Battle of Hogwarts'. Then again all that he knew and loved ha died, so was there any point going back?

"If Tessai-sama keeps feeding me food like that you won't be able to get rid of me!" He grinned.

"Good, good," Urahara said in a eerily Dumbledore like fashion. "Well set up a room for you to let you recover!"

* * *

Sirius was barely settled in before disaster struck in Karakura town. Later that evening Kuchiki Rukia had been retrieved by her brother Captain Kuchiki Byakuya and his new Lieutenant Abarai Renji. Ichigo had attempted to rescue her only to have his borrowed powers stripped and he was left for dead. Now Rukia had been imprisoned in the Soul Society and once Ichigo recovered he was intent in rescuing her.

Yoruichi and Sirius had once again taken animal form and the cat had left to teach Ichigo's friends how to handle their powers. Sirius stayed behind and observed Ichigo's training. He was highly amused by the whole situation. Urahara's constant mocking and Ichigo's constant stubbornness was very enjoyable to watch.

Sirius had also discovered a little problem with his eating habits. It turns out that you can't just go cold turkey on hollow meat. Whilst Tessai's meals where superb Sirius grew weak as if he was being starved. Urahara explained that the wizard had been living off hollow meat for so long that he needed the spiritual particles to survive, much like a hollow. However, Urahara assured that he would eventually be weaned off, but it may take a while.

Finally when training had finished Ichigo got ready to leave. Chad, Inoue, Ishida and Yoruichi had arrived and surprised the redhead. Sirius trotted towards Yoruichi and sat down next to her. He was going to go with them. His skills would take the shinigami by surprise, so he may be able to help.

They made their way to the basement and the rescue of Kuchiki Rukia began.

* * *

The battle had been long and hard, but Kurosaki Ichigo had managed to rescue Kuchiki Rukia from execution. Aizen's treachery had caused uproar in the Soul Society but Sirius didn't care because now it was known that Yoruichi and Urahara were innocent all along. Although Sirius didn't think that they would return anytime soon for Urahara had some explaining to when he got back, now that Aizen has Hogyoku.

Sirius hadn't really needed to do much when they invaded. He didn't want his status as the Grim Shadow spread around so he spent most of his true trotting around with Inoue, keeping her safe for Ichigo. He thoroughly enjoyed running around Soul Society like a normal dog. However his cover was blown when he apparated her away when they were close to being captured. It also didn't help when they apparated into a large group from Squad 11.

That turned out as an adventure in itself when they weren't taken to hospital. Orihime decided to go gallivanting around with Captain Kenpachi. Yachiru loved Padfoot and had taken to riding him as them broke out Inoue's friends and went up to Sokyoku Hill. The girl wanted to go faster so Sirius cast a disillusionment charm on both of them and sped past Kenpachi. He left the girl at the top of the hill and he went to watch the show unnoticed.

So not the fight had ended and the shinigami were slowly getting Soul Society back to normal.

The Captain Commander had called back all the shinigami to the Soul Society now that Central 46 had been murdered. They all needed to be reassigned.

Ichigo and Renji were sat on a roof by a courtyard, watching the world go by. Padfoot sprawled in between them with his head on Ichigo's knee. The redhead was scratching behind the dog's ear and Sirius sighed in contentment.

"Are you sure you are human?" Ichigo asked Sirius opened an eye and snorted indignantly at him, before stretching out to catch a few rays.

"Leave him be Ichigo," Renji said. "Who wouldn't want to walk around as a dog, it's a much easier life."

Sirius shot his head up and glared at Renji.

"Yeah right," Sirius thought. "Real easy."

"I mean Yoruichi-sama goes around as a cat because it's more stealthy."

"I guess," Ichigo replied as he continued to watch the shinigami make their way through the streets.

Kira passed them hastily as he tried to get his division in order since Aizen left.

"Poor guy," Renji said. "He's taking it much better than I would."

"Yeah," Ichigo said as he watch Sirius dozing off.

"This is the life," Sirius thought and he whimpered at the redhead who had stopped petting him.

"Sorry," Ichigo smirked as he went back to scratching his ear, before looking back down at the crowd.

Ichigo's eyes were drawn to some strange shinigami that were walking down a street in the distance. They had very unusual uniforms on. He knew that the shinigami did personalize their uniforms but these guys were completely different. They had an emblem for a western phoenix on there back and most of them had red trimmings on their sleeves and waistbands. That was except a very strange blonde with 3D goggles on her head, who was wearing blue and a purple haired woman who had trimming that matched her hair.

However, what had caught his attention the most was the large wolf that gracefully strode beside the group. She was the most beautiful specimen he had ever seen. She had silver fur that glittered in the sunlight with darker grey patches on her underbelly, paws and muzzle. She was happily trotting along as if she was part of the pack.

"Who are they?" Ichigo asked Renji.

"Oh that's Squad 0. Captain Commander and Central 46 allowed them to leave to fight some war from when they were alive."

"They remember their life before they arrived at Soul Society?" Ichigo asked. Sirius was just half listening as he dozed.

"Yeah, they became shinigami as soon as they died," Renji replied. "Don't know how though, it happened when I was in division 11."

"Oh," Ichigo said. The group stopped and chatted to Vice-Captain Matsumoto who was with her Captain in the courtyard. "What's with the wolf?"

"You see the older guy with the scars?" Renji said. "She's his Bankai."

"Really? Is she always corporeal?"

"Apparently," Renji replied.

"Wow that's pretty impressive," Ichigo whistled. "He must be very strong."

"Yeah most of them in Squad 0 have Bankai, it was mere hours after dieing that they managed to obtain Shikai."

They paused to watch Matsumoto fling her arms around the tall redhead.

"I thought that Matsumoto was involved with Gin?"

"Nah," Renji explained. "They were the childhood friends, Gin was the first person she trusted. She was one of the shinigami that found Squad 0 when they died. Those two kind of just clicked straight away."

"I see, it's good that she has someone to rely on," Ichigo said. Renji nodded along with Sirius who yawned and got up to stretch and scratch his neck, before going back to sleep, he really wasn't that interested in Renji's gossiping. None of them noticed the wolf stop and sniff the air the moment after Sirius scratch. She looked up in anticipation and let out a long sorrowful howl.

Sirius looked up. He hadn't heard that howl for a long time. It was Mooney!

"Wow!" Ichigo exclaimed. Sirius let out a long howl in reply. "Hey Sirius were are you going?" He continued as he ran away and bounded of the edge of the building.

They saw the shinigami look at the wolf, she had ran off towards the where she heard Sirius howl.

"Ula?" her Shinigami questioned as he chased after her. "What's wrong?"

Sirius stopped when he heard the voice and a huge wolf bounded around the corner into him. He fond himself pinned to the floor with the wolf licking at his face.

"Padfoot?" said the man behind the female wolf.

"Remus?"

* * *

**A/N: So I'm leaving it here. I had planned to add a bit more of Sirius and Squad 0's story before finishing off, but that will have to wait. **

**Sorry for the long wait guys, but I hope you enjoy the chapter nonetheless.**

**[1] A lot of this bit was inspired by the recent Lara Croft Tomb Raider games. The veil always reminded me a little bit of the portals in TR legend and TR underworld.**

**[2] I know hollows are solitary creatures normally, but they do, on occasion, go around in packs. Take Grimmjow, and his 'friends' went around in a group before they were turned into arrancar. **

**[3] As you can guess this section is based off the seventh book. I do not own the dialogue, it was written by J.. **


	10. The Dementor's Secret

18th August 2011

**A/N: So its been a long time again. This chapter has been very hard to finish, so there are bits I think that could do with a lot improvement. Please bear with me. **

_**Previously:**_

_Sirius looked up. He hadn't heard that howl for a long time. It was Mooney!_

_"Wow!" Ichigo exclaimed. Sirius let out a long howl in reply. "Hey Sirius were are you going?" He continued as he ran away and bounded of the edge of the building._

_They saw the shinigami look at the wolf, she had ran off towards the where she heard Sirius howl._

_"Ula?" her Shinigami questioned as he chased after her. "What's wrong?"_

_Sirius stopped when he heard the voice and a huge wolf bounded around the corner into him. He fond himself pinned to the floor with the wolf licking at his face._

_"Padfoot?" said the man behind the female wolf._

_"Remus?"_

**Chapter 10: The Dementors Secret.**

_"Remus?"_ Sirius thought. _"That definitely sounded like Moony."_ Maybe he was just imagining things, why on Earth would Remus be in Soul Society. Urahara said that wizards don't come here.

The wolf laughed at Sirius as he forced her off him and he bounded towards the man. He bowled the shinigami over, just as Ula the wolf had done to him mere moments ago.

"Arrggghhh, Sirius get off!" The man said. He certainly resembled Remus Lupin, but he was something different about him. He looked healthy.

Sirius wagged his tail and started to slobber over his long lost friend.

"Ewww," said Renji from behind as he and Ichigo finally caught up. "Dog slobber."

"Remus honey," said Tonks as she and the others arrived. "What's wro…" she stopped mid word when she saw the dog that had he husband pinned to the floor.

"Snuffles?" another feminine voice said from behind the metamorphagi. Sirius flinched at the name his godson used so many times before.

"Hermione," he thought. Examining the small crowd he realised that these strange shinigami were all wizards of the light.

_"Fred, Neville, Luna, Ginny and Tonks,"_ he thought again. _"What's going on?"_

"Sirius is that really you?" Remus said from beneath him. Sirius jumped up and nodded. During himself off Remus sat up.

"How are you here?"

"He came with me," Ichigo said.

"I don't understand either," Renji whispered. "How do they know the Grim Shadow?"

Ichigo shrugged.

Hermione frowned.

"Sirius Orion Black! You turn to normal and explain right now," she sternly threatened. "Or I'll hex you so hard you'll be seeing stars for months."

_"Eeep,"_ he thought as immediately turned to his human form.

"Keep your socks on!" Sirius exclaimed in horror. The witch smiled before giving him a running hug. Sirius beamed and patted her on the shoulder. "But I don't think I'm the only one who has some explaining to do," he said glancing at his best friend.

Matsumoto stood next to Fred in confusion.

"How do you know the Grim Shadow?" she whispered.

"Remus went to school with him," Fred replied. "They were best friends"

"Oh," she replied.

"He also was known as an escaped convict, put into prison for mass murder. He managed to get into my brother's and Neville's dormitory and threatened him with a knife."

"What!" she harshly whispered back. "Tell me your kidding!"

Neville smiled as he listened in, Matsumoto really wasn't being as quiet as she hoped. He felt that he needed to tell her the truth.

"No that happened," Neville grinned at Matsumoto. "Fred seems to have forgotten to mention that Sirius was in fact innocent and was trying to prove his innocence by killing Ron's rat, who happened to be Peter Pettigrew."

"Oh," she said before turning to whine at her boyfriend. "Fred why would you do that to me? I was beginning to worry."

"Sorry love," the twin grinned. "But you looks so pretty when you pout."

"Idiot, now I'm confused," she replied.

"Me too!" Renji said. "What the heck is going on?"

The wizards laughed and Sirius, who had managed to get Hermione to stop hugging him, spoke up.

"Maybe I should start from the beginning." Sirius told his tale, once again. He was becoming rather bored telling his story to everyone, but it was necessary. In return Remus told him about how they became shinigami when they died and that they've been fighting dementors since.

Sirius frowned; there was something that Remus was not telling him.

"What happened after we met in limbo?"

Remus grimaced as the other wizards looked to the ground.

"Remus, what happened?" Sirius repeated.

"The darkness fell on the wizarding world," Luna informed Sirius, being the only one to have the courage to speak up.

"Voldemort killed Harry and them the fighting started again," Hermione said. "Those of the light who survived fled from Hogwarts and Voldemort left with his Death Eaters. No one has been to Hogwarts since, not even to retrieve the bodies."

"No one?" Ichigo asked.

"Why haven't you gone back?" Sirius demanded. "Surely you could have gone back."

"That was not part of our orders," Remus replied solemnly.

"Coward," Sirius said.

"We didn't have much choice, either follow Gotei 13's orders or be thrown in jail."

"But," Sirius started.

"What do you expect anyway?" Ginny said. "All we would find is the castle ruins and bodies. I personally don't want to find out what has become of my body, or my parents, my brothers, my friends… my boyfriend …" She trailed off.

"Oh," Sirius said. "Ginny I'm sorry."

"It's O.K.," she replied. Neville tapped his watch at the group.

"The Captain Commander is waiting for us."

"O.K. Neville," Remus replied as Tonks took his hand. "Sirius this shouldn't take long. We'll find you when we've finished."

"See you later," Sirius tried to smile, but his eyes betrayed him.

Remus grinned sympathetically before he and his wife headed off. Hermione gave him a quick hug before following, Neville, Luna and Ginny not far behind.

"We can talk later," Fred, said to his girlfriend. "I think Toshiro needs your help dealing with Momo first." He gave her a quick peck on the cheek. "I'll be back as soon as possible."

Ichigo, Renji and Sirius watched as the shinigami left to their meeting. When they were out of sight, Renji turned and smiled at Sirius.

"So this is your human form?" he asked.

"Yep," Sirius replied.

"Any chance you can show me some of you tricks?" Renji questioned.

"Nope," Sirius said. "I'm going back to my nap. Come on Ichigo."

He trotted off back to the rooftops as Padfoot.

"He does have a point," Ichigo said as he went to follow Sirius. "We best rest while we can."

"But," Renji added.

"Leave it out Renji, he's just found out that his whole world is practically in ruins and his friend he thought was dead just left with only a brief explanation." Ichigo scolded. "Leave him be."

Renji grunted at the substitute shinigami, he did have a point. It was one more day until the Captain got out of hospital. Then the division would have to get back to work, he better make the most of it.

* * *

Sighing Rangiku took another sip of her saké as she watched her captain do his paperwork at his desk.

"Captain?" she asked innocently.

"Yes Matsumoto?"

"Have you seen Momo yet today?"

"No I haven't Matsumoto."

"Do you want to go now?"

"Not now I'm busy."

The lieutenant frowned. If she didn't get Toshiro to open up soon, he was going to have a breakdown.

"I'm sure the paperwork can wait Captain," she pressed.

"Matsumoto, just because you feel the need to once again avoid your responsibility, does not mean I will!"

"Captain!"

"Matsumoto if you're so eager to go to the hospital, go by yourself!"

"You do realize that the Captain Commander put us on leave for R&R, for at least a few more days. You're still healing."

"I don't need a break," Hitsugaya retorted.

"Everyone needs a break once in a while."

"Matsumoto you're overstepping your boundaries!"

Matsumoto was getting upset, she was trying to help her captain and he wasn't having any of it.

"How can I be overstepping my boundaries? I'm trying to help you Captain."

"Excuse me?" Hitsugaya replied with gritted teeth.

"Momo nearly died and you've shut yourself in this office, it's not healthy."

Hitsugaya scoffed.

"How would you know Matsumoto?"

"Your not the only one to have lost something to the hands of that manipulative bastard Aizen!"

That was it for Matsumoto; she couldn't stand being around her Captain when he was being more emotionally distant than normal.

Toshiro on the other hand, just sat in shock at his Lieutenants outburst. He couldn't believe how selfish he was being.

"Matsumoto I'm sorry," he said trying to avoid her gaze.

"Look I've got to go," she said as she hurried out of the room. "I can't do this right now."

* * *

Finally the pointless meeting was over and Fred began to head straight towards Division 10's head office. Rangiku said that she would be trying to cheer up her captain who was wallowing in the endless paperwork that the division seemed to get.

The redhead was looking forward to the next couple of days. He hasn't been able spend much time with his girlfriend recently. The Captain Commander seemed to have them on the mortal plain more often these days. If only he knew why the number of dementors was increasing, maybe they could then sort out the problem quicker.

It was a shame about Gin though. Matsumoto was still attached to her childhood friend and she is devastated now that he is gone. At the very least he could be there for he for a couple of days. Its just annoying that he couldn't be there longer. He just hoped that the dementors stay quiet for the next few days and then he won't have to leave before his days off are over.

Fred ad just made it to the Division 10 gate and was interrupted by one of the unranked shinigami on guard.

"Um, Weasley-san," he said. "Vice Captain Matsumoto has just left."

Fred paused in mid-step.

"Okay," he looked at the guard who shifted uncomfortably. "Well where did she say she was going?"

"I don't know sir," he replied. "She ran out looking quite distressed. I think she was working with the Captain before she left."

"I'll ask him then," Fred told the shinigami. "Thanks."

Angry at himself for leaving his girlfriend's side at her time of need he stormed to the Captain's office. If Toshiro did anything to hurt Rangiku he'd make the Captain regret it.

Once finally at the door he took a deep breath to calm down before peeking in. Hitsugaya was sat at his desk staring absent-mindedly at a half empty cup of Saké on the coffee table. Fred noticed the guilty look on the kid's face and decided to step in.

"Is there a reason that my girlfriend was seen leaving here looking rather upset?" he said at the doorway, causing Hitsugaya to jump and look up.

"Weasley," he said stoically. "You do not talk to a Captain like that. I expect to be treated with proper respect and that means you knock."

Fred didn't care. He'd never treated his teachers at Hogwarts with proper respect, so why should he do it here? Not that most of the teachers minded, that was just the way the twins acted. They knew that there was no reason to worry, because when they were both serious and polite that was when you should worry.

"Toshiro why did you upset Matsumoto?" He asked sternly.

"I don't know, she wanted me to come and see Momo with her," he replied. "But I said I had to work and she got angry saying she was trying to help… I tried to apologise but she stormed out."

Fred took a good look at the captain and sighed. He could tell that Toshiro was really sorry for upsetting Rangiku, but he couldn't leave it like this. Matsumoto was right an the captain needed to get out of the office and sort himself out.

"Well?" Fred said.

"What? Look I'm sorry but go away Matsumoto isn't here."

"Come on!" Fred grabbed the small boy by the arm and dragged him out of the office.

"Oi! What are you doing? Unhand me!"

"We're going out."

How dare you. I'll have you reported for this!"

"Look you upset my girlfriend and you ARE going to make it up to her. Might as well kill two birds with one stone and take you to see Momo as well. Report me if you want but I don't care."

Hitsugaya looked up to the twin in despair and noted the glint of mischief in his eyes. It made him shudder. Looks like there was not stopping him.

They found Matsumoto in the hospital checking up on Momo's condition. She was silently sat next to her bed, with her back to the door.

Upon hearing the approaching footsteps she looked over her shoulder to see if it was a medic to check on the patient, but instead she saw the tall figure of Fred Weasley at the doorway. Her eyes were red from crying but she smiled warmly at him.

"Fred," she said softly.

"Hey," the replied with a cheeky grin. "How is she?"

"She's stable," Matsumoto said. " But the doctors won't say anything else."

"Oh," Fred's face fell. "Well I've got someone who needs to talk to you." He pulled the Captain through the doorway. Toshiro did not very pleased at being dragged but his expression became unreadable when he saw Momo and his Lieutenant.

"What do you have to say?" Fred prompted.

"I'm sorry I was so insensitive and I'm sorry for shouting at you when you were only trying to help. I realise that I shouldn't work myself too hard, however it is the only way I can keep my mind of what happened." The captain said.

His speech sounded rehearsed and Matsumoto suspected her boyfriend had something to do with it.

"And," Fred pushed the smaller boy forward.

"I'm sorry that Gin betrayed you. No-one deserved that."

Rangiku smiled softly, her captain looked truly uncomfortable where he stood. Fred always had the talent of bring the child out of Hitsugaya more than anyone else in Gotei 13.

"Thank you Taicho,' she smiled. "I'm sorry for overreacting."

"This doesn't get you out of doing your paperwork," Toshiro added stubbornly. Matsumoto and Fred tried to stifle their laughter at the comment but failed miserably and Hitsugaya scowled.

"She'll be right on it," Fred said. "But first we're gong to catch up a little. We'll leave you alone with Momo-chan and find Captain Unohana for you."

"Thank you Weasley-san," Hitsugaya said.

"No problem," he grabbed Matsumoto's hand and lead her out of the room. They walked in silence down the corridor looking for the 4th Division's captain. They found her in her office and told her that Captain Hitsugaya was there and she left immediately to find him.

"Thank-you," Rangiku said as she rested her head on Fred's shoulder. They had no left the hospital and were heading down the street. "People seem to forget that he's still a little kid. You always know what to do."

"Well when you grow up with six siblings you can pick these things up."

"Yes but no-one has the guts to treat the Captain like that.

"The kid puts too much weight on his shoulders sometimes. I've seen it before and that much pressure on someone so young never leads anywhere good. Someone has to do it."

"Your right," she replied. "I do try and get him to loosen up but he never seems to listen."

"I know," he leaned down to kiss her. "And don't you ever stop. I couldn't bear it if you were as grouchy as he is all the time."

She smiled brightly and nodded.

"So what did the Captain Commander have to say?"

"Oh nothing much. We've basically got to keep doing what we've always done."

"That seems anticlimactic."

"Yeah and we were busy tacking the dementors since they were all on the move."

"Well it seems a bit pointless that you were summoned back to Soul Society," Rangiku frowned.

"Not really," Fred said. "Remus found Sirius and besides I couldn't do this if I was away." He pulled her into a heated kiss. Matsumoto let out a slight whimper before smiling and deepening the kiss and wrapping her arms around his neck.

It felt like time itself had stopped for the couple and they ignored the looks that they were getting from the passers by. However, it wasn't last when a loud ringing came out of Fred's pocket.

"Shit!" he exclaimed. "I was hoping to spend at least a couple of days with you before we got a signal."

Matsumoto pouted. This was really bad timing.

Fred pulled the offending item out of his pocket and paled when he looked at the screen.

"What's wrong?"

"We have a problem," Fred said as he showed her the monitor. It showed many white and red lights and they were all converging to the same area.

"There us high activity in on are. The dementors and hollows seem to be all congregating in one area and their spiritual is rising," he said.

"Do you know why?"

"No," he said. "I'm really sorry but I have to go."

"That's Okay."

"I just wish I could have spent more time with you. I missed you."

"I missed you too," she smiled. "Go. The quicker you kick those dementors butts the quicker you get back."

"Thank you," Fred kissed her goodbye. "I love you." Within moments he was gone and his silver patronus' were heading off in various directions. Matsumoto put her fingers on her lips and smiled sadly.

"I love you too."

* * *

Renji had grown bored waiting around on the rooftops so he managed to nag Ichigo to go and find his friends. Ichigo didn't really want to leave Sirius but he seemed content on sunbathing for the time being so they left him to it.

Ichigo was on edge and he jumped as one of the strange shinigami ran towards the two of them waving. The streets were still very busy and Ichigo was still trying to avoid the unwanted attention of some of the shinigami that were still trying to challenge him to a duel. He was lucky that Kenpachi hadn't found him yet today, but he still wouldn't put it past the man to appear out of nowhere. Now he was stuck standing in the streets and anyone could see him.

"Hey Abarai," the brunette said. "I'm assuming that this is the famous Ichigo?"

"Yep."

"Hi," she smiled. "Sorry we didn't get to talk before, I'm Hermione Granger. I'm a witch."

"Um, Hi," Ichigo replied. "Kurosaki Ichigo, nice to meet you. It must have been nice to meet up with Sirius after such a long time."

"Yeah, its nice to see that at least someone is safe in this rotten war," Hermione said leaving them to stand uncomfortably in silence.

"So Granger," Renji smiled trying to dissipate the tension. "How's life in your special squad?"

"Not good," she frowned. "The dementors suddenly started heading north. They had been wandering across Australia for 2 years now and we have no idea what has got them to change their course. We assume that it must have been a surge of power because from Ula's report, Voldemort is heading east. I have a feeling they are being attracted by the same thing."

"That can't be good. Now with Aizen's threat we may have too much to handle."

"Indeed," she paused. "Oh by the way, congratulations on getting promoted Lieutenant," Hermione smiled slyly.

Renji blushed, "Uhh yeah thanks."

"Yeah the word on the street is that he's also obtained Bankai," a feminine voice commented from behind.

Abarai Renji froze in fear as Tonks appeared behind them with Ginny in tow. If there was one person that unsettled Renji, it was Nymphadora Tonks.

"Looks like you'll be getting some new tattoos," she carried on. "I wonder if there is anywhere he can fit them." If Renji could have blushed any more he would have at the metamorphagi's suggestive tone.

"Oh leave him be Tonks." Hermione scolded. "You're a married woman."

"But its so fun to tease him." Her hair colour changed to a sad grey as she pouted at the brunette.

"Don't mind her," Hermione added to Ichigo. "This is Tonks and the red head next to her is Ginny. Girls this is Ichigo."

"Hi, nice to meet you," Ichigo sheepishly smiled.

"Likewise," Ginny said as she shook his hand. "I'm Ginny Weasley. You'll probably see my brother around too. He's a bit of a trouble maker and I think that he has his sights set on you for his next prank."

"Is he the one dating Matsumoto Rangiku?"

"Yeah, that's the one," giggling at her brother's choice in women before looking up to find Ichigo staring at her. "What? Is there something on me?"

Ichigo jumped slightly, "Sorry I've just never met anyone with the same hair colour before."

Ginny blinked in surprise at the question and she heard Hermione and Tonks sniggering in the background. She gave them a quick glare before turning back to Ichigo.

"Really? Oh well my whole family had ginger hair; it's a bit of a Weasley curse. Both my parents and my six brothers are the same."

"Six brothers?"

"Yeah I'm the baby sister of six brothers," she paused. "Well at least that was the case before I died."

"You remember your past life," Ichigo was shocked. The Souls in Soul Society often forget their past life, since time goes much slower here.

"Sure, we've only been dead since 1998," Ginny, said. "I mean that is less time than Sirius has been dead."

"I still thought it was kind of a taboo to talk about things like that."

"Not really, just no-one does," Ginny grimaced. "Its not nice to talk about what we have lost."

"Oh sorry," Ichigo apologized.

"Its O.K. It helps when you have friends that know you and what you've been through." Ichigo smiled Ginny was right, when his friends understood what he was going through it got a little easier, even though the fight in soul society was still pretty difficult. He was about to ask a bit more about the world Ginny came from when he noticed Orihime waving at him from a distance with Chad and Ishida.

"Kurosaki-kun!" She exclaimed as they headed towards them. Ichigo smiled warmly and waved back.

"Are they your friends from Earth?" Ginny asked noting the substitute shinigami's reaction to the newcomers.

"Yeah," Ichigo started before hearing a disturbance behind him. The group of shinigami turned to find Fred Weasley heading towards them dragging a very agitated Captain behind him.

"Fred Weasley! Let go of Captain Hitsugaya at once!" Hermione yelled as they got closer, sounding a lot like a certain Mrs. Weasley.

"No can do Hermione," he smirked. "Captain has someone he needs to talk to!"

Within moments they had rushed passed the group and headed past Inoue and the others.

"So that was your brother."

"Yep," Ginny replied.

"I think he's pissed off Toshiro," Ichigo added as his friends arrived. They looked a bit taken back by Fred's blatant disregard for authority figures.

"Kurosaki, why was that shinigami dragging Captain Hitsugaya?" Ishida enquired.

"Dunno."

"That's just Fred for you. He treats everyone as equals. He's always trying to cheer people up," Ginny shrugged her shoulders.

"So guy's," Ichigo turned to his friends. "Where have you been? I haven't seen you all day."

"Well Yachiru-chan invited me over to make dinner for division 11," Inoue smiled brightly. "She told me to bring you guys but I couldn't find you so I only brought Sado-kun and Ishida-kun."

Ichigo peered over to Chad and Ishida, they looked very pale and he had to suppress a grin.

"I was about to serve the main course but Captain Kenpachi had disappeared with Ikkaku and Yumichika," she added. "So now we're looking for them!"

"Oh really?" Ichigo raised an eyebrow at his friends. He could tell that the Quincy was very relieved to be free of Inoue's cooking for the time being and Chad did not very well at all. Tonks and Ginny giggled.

"Yes I really have no idea where they could have gone," the perplexed girl added when the Captain appeared behind her. Ichigo froze when Kenpachi stopped and saw Ichigo. The man grinned evilly, but he hadn't noticed Inoue yet as she had her back to the man. Renji and Hermione had noticed Ichigo's reaction to the appearance of the man and the Gryffindor couldn't help but giggle.

"So Inoue, what kind of things did you have planned for the main course?" Hermione questioned.

"Oh well their kitchens were really badly stocked so I just had to make do, but Yachiru helped me with the main and the dessert and she was really upset when they all disappeared," Inoue frowned. "It would be a shame for it to go cold before we find them."

"Oh I wouldn't worry about that Inoue I know some good warming spells and they should be as good as new."

"Really?" Inoue shouted. "That would be great! I'm sorry I don't know your name."

Kenpachi finally stopped looking at Ichigo when he heard Inoue shout and his face fell. Tonks and Ginny had also noticed what was going on and they giggled.

"I'm sorry, my name is Hermione Granger," she extended her hand out to the human. "I'm a friend of Sirius. Its nice to meet you."

Ichigo gathered his confidence,

"Apparently Hermione, Ginny and Tonks are all in a squad that are all wizards," he said as he glared smugly at the Captain. He wouldn't dare attack Ichigo if Inoue were around because she would drag him back to the dinner they were having. It was pathetic that he was more afraid of the girl than the powerful shinigami, but then again he could never say no to Yachiru and she would be equally upset if he were cruel to Inoue. The two seemed to have bonded after Yachiru's initial jealousy. Instead Kenpachi opted for trying to sneak away before the girl noticed his presence.

"Wow really?" Orihime beamed. She noticed that Ichigo was staring at something behind her and she looked around. Kenpachi was already gone, but Chad and Ishida were still looking a bit pale. "Hey are you guys okay?"

They nodded slightly but she frowned.

"So Hermione you weren't talking about Kido when you were talking about helping out Inoue," Ishida tried to distract the girl.

"Oh no," Hermione said. "Kido only is very good for fighting and healing, but magic can help in everyday life."

"How do you know the Grimm Shadow?" Chad asked.

"Sirius?" Hermione frowned.

"Sirius is a wizard just like us," Tonks said. "He got stuck in Hueco Mundo in 1996 and we thought him dead."

"That's terrible," Inoue said. "Hey what's that?" she asked as she pointed at a silvery animal running towards the group.

"That's Fred's Patronus," Tonks said.

"Do you think he mistook Captain Hitsugaya's icy demeanour for a dementor attack? " Ginny said causing Tonks to giggle. The Patronus arrived and Fred's voice,

"Looks like we've got an emergency of the greatest order folks. We've got dementors and hollows having a little party in Karakura Town, Japan. Get to gate 12 immediately."

"What!" Ichigo said.

"We've got to go," Hermione said. "I'm sorry."

"No wait," Ichigo said. "Karakura Town is our home town, we're coming with you."

Hermione went to protest but when she saw the resolve on each of the ryoka's faces, she sighed in defeat.

"Fine, I'll let Fred know your coming," Hermione set off her Patronus to Fred as they headed off to Gate 12.

* * *

Neville sighed as he and Luna sat down in their barrack in division 13. They didn't have a specific division but Captain Ukitake had allowed them to stay whenever they were in Soul Society. They barely stayed for more than a couple of days at a time but it was appreciated.

"I know Sirius is innocent and all but I still find it disconcerting meeting an ex-convict," Neville said.

"We met him in the department of mysteries before he fell into the veil," Luna replied. "Stop being so intolerant."

"Sorry," he replied scratching the back of his head.

"Remus is happy," Luna replied.

"Well sure he was," Neville replied. "But didn't you think it was a bit weird? I mean it wasn't exactly the most emotional reunion most would expect."

"Really?" Luna said as she returned to her usual absent-minded tone. "I thought that they were truly happy to see each other. After all, they have both been through a lot and they will need each other to get through what is to come."

Neville sighed; Luna knew what was going to happen. He could still remember what she said as they got ready to leave Australia.

"I don't suppose your going to tell me what is to come?"

"All is going to change," Luna replied.

"I don't think I can handle any more change," Neville shivered. Although his strength and confidence has soared since his time at Hogwarts he still took a while to adjust to his new life.

"Without change the wars will not end Neville," Luna replied. "Besides just because I said everything is changing doesn't mean that its something you're not familiar with."

"Which would be?"

"Well I can't tell you," Luna replied with a wicked grin. "I can't tell you what will happen in the future. That could disrupt the whole balance of time and space."

"Is there anything that you can tell me?"

"For Aizen's war to end, there will have to be unity on both sides."

"What?" Neville questioned. "How…?"

However Neville was interrupted by Fred's Patronus heading towards them.

"Looks like we've got an emergency of the greatest order folks. We've got dementors and hollows having a little party in Karakura Town, Japan. Get to gate 12 immediately." The silvery figure disintegrated into the air.

"Well come on then Neville lets go!" Luna said. The Gryffindor nodded and they set off.

Neville's frustration was mounted. With things going the way they were, will either war come to an end?

* * *

Padfoot sighed as he shifted onto his back. As soon as the sun's warmth hit the dog's belly he let out a breath of contentment. Although he did wish that Ichigo and Abarai hadn't left a couple of minutes ago as he already missed Ichigo scratching his ears. He found it soothing and it kept his mind off more pressing matters, like the return of Remus.

_"Its better I take a nap,"_ he thought, as his eyes got heavier._ "Naps are good."_ After a few minutes dozing he felt a familiar feline presence coming in his direction. One eyes slowly inched open to find the cat looking at him in curiosity, but this didn't deter him and he closed his eye to resume his nap with a slight grin on his face.

"You know, real dogs don't grin," Yoruichi said. "Some would consider that quite a talent." This of course made the dog's grin to widen.

"You seem awfully relaxed Sirius," she continued. "Ichigo told me what happened. It must have been quite a shock."

_"Great, so much for taking my mind off it,"_ Sirius thought as he raised his head and gave her a stern look to indicate that he wasn't ready to talk yet. Rolling to his side he stretched his legs before trying to get comfortable once more.

Yoruichi was worried as she watched the grim evade her. It was obvious that he was agitated even though he didn't want to show it. She curled up next to him and decided that a nap was not such a bad idea. That's what cats do best after all. Sirius let out another contented sigh.

"I just hope Soifon doesn't see us," she thought before slowly loosing consciousness under the warm sun.

10 Minutes later:

"Well that something you don't see everyday."

The cat and dog jumped as someone spoke from behind them. Remus Lupin was stood grinning at the couple with Ula sat behind him.

"I knew you had a soft spot for cats Sirius. You seemed awfully fond of Professor McGonagall when we were at school."

Sirius flinched away from Yoruichi and got up to stare at the werewolf, whereas Yoruichi slowly stretched before standing to look at Remus.

"You must be Remus Lupin," she said.

"Yoruichi-sama," Remus smiled at the cat.

"What did the Captain-Commander say?" Sirius asked as he changed back into his human form.

"We are to keep pursing dementors but we can have a few days leave before we return," Remus said as they went to sit at the edge of the building. "Fred is keeping an eye on the situation just in case we have to leave sooner."

"Okay," Sirius replied.

They sat in silence not knowing where to start. Not wanting to intrude on such a personal moment Yoruichi went to Remus' wolf and curled up by her feet. Taking a big yawn she went back to sleep. The men chuckled as the wolf stared in shock at the boldness of the cat, she didn't know whether to growl or curl up with it. However, after noting Yoruichi's spiritual pressure she settled with curling up with the cat, whilst listening to Remus and Sirius catch up.

"So what's with the wolf?" Sirius asked.

"She's Moony!" Remus simply stated as he took in the look of shock in his friend's face. "Okay so she's not technically Moony but she's my Zanpakuto. When we died in the battle out Zanpakuto instantly materialised. However, unlike Tonks and the rest my Zanpakuto took the form of my werewolf."

Sirius frowned. "That still doesn't explain why he's sat over there right now."

The wolf growled from its resting place.

"Okay, first he is a she called Ula. She does not appreciate being assumed male. Secondly, you know that zanpakuto are part of your soul right?"

"Yep," Sirius smiled. "I was there when Ichigo was being trained by Urahara and Yoruichi."

"In most cases it is more of a manifestation from your soul, but in my case it was different. My soul had two entities, Remus and Moony. It is a bit like when people have Schizophrenia, so since my body didn't need to develop a new persona, the werewolf part of me became my zanpakuto."

"But I thought you were constantly fighting the werewolf. That's why werewolves are so violent during the transformation during full moon."

"Sirius, you of all people know that isn't true. When you and the Marauders transformed into animals Moony was soothed. Having a pack was all I needed to act like a normal wolf and not a man-eating monster. What people don't know is that it's the human part of the werewolf that makes it the monster not he wolf. The werewolf virus reacts so severely with the human's antibodies it creates a huge amount of pain during the transformations, which cause the violence.

"The perception that wolves are bloodthirsty monsters is a misconception. The human side is also why werewolves like Greyback are much more violent than I ever was. It was his choices as a human that made him so dangerous," Sirius smiled sympathetically to Remus before the werewolf carried on. "So to answer your first question. The reason why she's corporeal is because she's in her Bankai form," Remus smiled. "Well, its part of my Bankai. Since Ula was with me for so long during my life, she can come out as a separate force. It's great. She often goes out on reconnaissance missions alone to check up on the order of the phoenix as the follow Voldemort on his warpath."

"Wow, that's impressive," Sirius said. "So I'm guessing it's a bit like those Visored who have hollow powers separate from their zanpakuto, or the Arrancar."

"Kind of," Remus smiled. "Except my 'two powers' the wolf and the zanpakuto are one in the same."

Remus turned to Sirius.

"How did you know about the Visored?"

"I'm staying with Urahara Moony. In exchange for all my information on Aizen he told me the circumstances of his banishment. That Aizen is a nasty piece of work. You?"

"We've met up with them a couple of times," Lupin replied. "Without the Soul Society knowing of course. Fred likes to trade with them. It's a shame that Gotei 13 hasn't come begging for their help. They're all very powerful considering they are all Captain and Vice Captain strength."

"Both sides have too much pride for that," Sirius said. "Anyway Bankai in six years! That's amazing Remus."

"More like six months," Lupin smirked. "Like I said I have a special connection with Ula, it didn't take long to control Bankai. I'm sure our magic helps as well, Tonks, Fred and Ginny have also obtained Bankai."

"And the others?"

"They're getting there. I think Neville is nearly there. I think Hermione is too distracted so she hasn't managed it, I don't think she expected the battle to end like it did, she really worried about Ron. Once she gets her resolve sorted out she'll manage it easily."

"Well she was more a bookish person than a doing person," Sirius added.

"Yeah I guess so. Luna on the other hand… well I don't know about her. Her Shikai is so good anyway I can't image the power she would yield if she obtained Bankai. Knowing her she already has released her Bankai and is just not telling us."

Sirius laughed. That did sound a lot like Miss Lovegood.

"What's her Shikai?"

"Sybill can predict the future. When in battle she can predict the opponent's intentions and react accordingly. It's really just an amplified version of her sight."

"She has the sight?"

"Yep."

"You know Moony you never did say how you all became shinigami," Sirius stated as though the question had been burning on his tongue for a long time.

Remus smiled.

"We are not so sure ourselves. However it is believed our magic fluctuated when we died and wanted to keep fighting. We didn't want to give up and now we can carry on fighting the war in our own way."

The two paused to watch Fred drag Captain Hitsugaya down the street.

"Is he allowed to do that?" Sirius questioned.

"Since when has something like that stopped Fred Weasley?"

"True. There was a time when we were like that too."

"No you and James were like that, I just tagged along for the ride."

"Says the brains for our most elaborate pranks," Sirius reminisced.

"Yes but I, unlike you, never got caught and if it wasn't for me you and James would have never done any of your school work."

Sirius scoffed as the Redhead and Captain disappeared in the direction of the hospital.

"Fred's just what Captain Hitsugaya needs to loosen up a little," Remus replied. "He's just a child but he never lets his guard down and it's not healthy."

"That's the problem with being forced to grow up too quickly," Sirius replied. "He saw it with Harry. I'm sure Fred knows what he's doing."

"Yeah the twins were always there for Harry," Lupin smiled sadly. "They had strange ways of getting their point across."

The mention of Harry caused the marauders to sit in silence. After a few minutes Ula whined and Yoruichi opened an eye in worry.

"What is the situation in the war Remmy?" Padfoot asked seriously breaking the two out of their reverie. Remus sighed deeply.

"After the battle of Hogwarts Voldemort has been on a rampage. He's taken over all the wizarding ministries in Europe and Asia. He still has Bella and Lucius by his side, but Mrs. Malfoy and Draco joined the order just after the battle of Hogwarts. McNair was killed by the order in France. Crabbe and Goyle senior were taken out in India."

"Oh lovely Bellatrix, how I would love to be the one to take her out," Sirius sneered.

"You'll have to wait in line, she killed Hermione and Ginny not long after that. Not to mention Molly Weasley when she went on a rampage after killing Ginny."

"Molly? Is she here in Soul Society?" Sirius asked.

"No, she like all the others who died went through wizarding limbo," Remus replied. "We still don't really know what happens to a wizard's soul when they die."

"And after the battle?"

"There have been very few fatalities in the light since the battle, but the main problem is the increase in Death Eaters. Their numbers have increased substantially. I have a feeling quite a few of them are under the imperious curse.

"The muggles have no idea what's going on. They're blaming it on muggle terrorists, but even they can't explain the Dark Mark that looms over each attack site."

"Why won't the Soul Society let you interfere with the fighting?" Sirius asked.

"Because its not their fight. Its ridiculous, but a soul reaper's job is preserving the balance between life and death. If we go killing Death Eaters when they are not a threat to the Soul Society would disrupt the balance and cause chaos."

"Like the balance isn't already screwed up with all Aizen's experiments," Sirius scoffed. "I guess you at least get to kick some dementor arse."

"And Hollow," Remus added.

"Yeah!" Sirius exclaimed. He liked the idea of his best friend exterminating all that the creatures that have made his life hell during his life. "I wonder what dementors taste like?"

"Urgh Sirius that's disgusting!" Remus scolded.

"What," Sirius whined pulling the puppy-dog face. "I can't help that the only source of food I've had for the last eight years or so is Hollow meat. Urahara says that I have to wean myself off hollow meat slowly or my spiritual pressure will become unstable. I'm sure dementor meat isn't much different."

"I don't think dementors have much meat on them at all, and I'm sure its going to be pretty rotten."

"True … They're all bony and such. Though it would be a nice bit of revenge after what the dementors put me though in Azkaban."

"Sirius, revenge can take you to dark places!"

"Do you think that any more wizards will become shinigami like you?" Sirius ignored Remus' scolding. The werewolf paused.

"I suppose it's possible, it hasn't happened yet," he said looking towards his feet.

"Would it be a bad thing?" Sirius asked as he picked up his friend s hesitance.

"No but…"

"But what Remus? Wouldn't it be better for the order to continue fighting when they die? Merlin knows you could use the help."

"What if it's a Death Eater?" Remus exclaimed. "Or someone we love, like one of the Weasleys or Luna's dad or Teddy?"

Sirius blanched.

"I don't think accept the death of my son, Merlin Sirius I worry every day that my son is in the war. He's only seven and if Voldemort gets to him I doubt he would survive," Remus said as he broke down into tears.

"Remus I'm sure Andromeda and the rest of the order are keeping him safe," Sirius tried to reassure his friend.

"Sirius I can't loose him. I don't want him to die like James and Lily did. I don't want to feel the devastation I felt when they died and when I thought I had lost you as well to Azkaban. When I thought you had betrayed them I was heartbroken," Remus said between sobs. "And then when I got you back you went through the veil, I had never felt so alone."

Sirius put his arm around his friends shoulder and looked at him seriously.

"Remus you were never alone, you had the order and Harry… Even I could see that Tonks was there for you."

"Merlin, I missed you so much Sirius."

Sirius faltered.

"Everything went to pieces when you died. Harry fell to pieces and went so far into himself that if it wasn't for Ginny I doubt he would have come out of it. Then Dumbledore died and Harry went on the run with Ron and Hermione. Do you know what I tired to do? I tired to go with him. I finally wasn't alone, Dora and I were happily married but the moment I found out she was pregnant I bolted."

"Oh Remus," Sirius said.

"I was so afraid that I had spread the werewolf curse onto my unborn child that I was prepared to leave Tonks on her own," Remus paused to wipe away some tears before grinning slightly. "But Harry knocked some sense into me. You would have been proud of him, Sirius."

"I always will be, and I'm sure Lily and James would be too," Sirius smiled. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Remus sighed. "I guess I needed to get some things off my chest."

"Even the strongest people need someone to talk to Remus," Sirius said. "What are friends for?"

"I'm glad your back Sirius," Lupin thanked.

"Yeah me too," he replied. "I never thought I'd miss sunlight like I did."

"I feel so selfish, here I am ranting about all my troubles when you were stuck in Hueco Mundo for so long."

"It wasn't so bad. Being a wizard animagus with slowly increasing spiritual pressure does have its advantages."

"It must have been lonely," Remus said.

"I guess, but I'm well practised from Azkaban," Sirius replied. "I did have a bit of a breakdown when I got all my memories back the night of Hogwarts battle, but I did also meet a shinigami friend that was also stuck there."

"I'm sorry Sirius."

"What for?" Sirius asked. "Look I was telling the truth about your son. He'll be Okay."

"Yeah I guess, but its still frightening."

"Well that's war Remus."

Suddenly they were interrupted by a silvery glow moving towards them at an extraordinary pace. A Patronus stopped in front of them and spoke in Fred's voice.

"Remus we've got a horde of dementors and hollows causing havoc in Karakura town. It seems the dementors have finally found what they are looking for. We're meeting with the ryoka at gate 12 ASAP."

* * *

All had arrived at gate 12 within minutes. The Wizards, humans, a dog and, surprisingly, a certain goddess of flash in human form.

"What's the situation?" Remus asked Fred in an authoritative tone. The twin pulled out a strange device, which looked like a cross between a global satellite navigation device and a 1950's radio. After a brief study Fred grimaced.

"Well we've got lots of dementors which have high spiritual pressure within a place called Karakura town," he started. Ichigo and his friends paled. "There strength seems to be increasing but I don't think that they are attacking the civilians (yet) as many weak hollow signatures seem to be disappearing. They are mainly localized around the parkland."

"That's where that Menos Grande was," Ishida grimaced; he was very worried now that his powers had disappeared.

"Well how do we kill them?" Ichigo demanded, but the wizards just glanced impatiently at the forceful teen.

"The usual slice and dice," Tonks told Ichigo. "But be careful if they get hold of you they have a nasty habit of sucking out your soul."

"Like hollows then?"

"No not really," Luna added. "The dementors devour your soul, leaving your soul chain still attached. It doesn't kill you, it just leaves you a shell of a being."

"Thank-you Luna," Remus repressed a sigh. "Right lets get going."

"But what about Rukia?" Inoue stated. "We haven't said goodbye."

"She'll understand," Ichigo reassured her. "I'm sure we'll meet up again when she's recovered. Lets go." He headed towards the open gate only to be stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

It was Yoruichi. She stepped forward and blocked the gate before entering. She knew that most of the humans were in no fit state for fighting.

"Inoue, Ishida and Sado," she said. "I want you to go straight to Urahara's, you are still in no state to fight these dementors. We'll all meet up there afterwards. Is that clear?"

"But," Orihime started.

"Inoue-san," Ishida interrupted. "We'll only get in the way. Besides your healing skils will come in use later." The girl's eyes went all watery but she nodded nonetheless.

"Right lets get going," Remus said as he lead them all through the gate.

* * *

Once out of the gate everyone was hit with silence. It was dusk in Karakura town and there wasn't a person in sight.

"I thought you said we were going to the park," Ichigo griped.

"I thought the town was riddled with these things?" Ishida added.

"And here I thought I told you, Sado and Inoue were to go straight to Urahara's," Yoruichi scolded.

"Oh yeah, right," Ishida scowled and went off after Chad and Orihime who had already set off.

Fred frowned and brought out yet another gadget from his pockets. Ichigo raised an eyebrow at this, wondering where he fit all these instruments. Did he have bottomless pockets? The truth was that the prankster had learnt to charm his pockets with and undetectable extension charm long before he died.

The invention in his hand was a portable radar that looked like it had been assembled with parts form a scrapheap. Fred turned it on and tuned it by pressing a few buttons.

"Yeah it looks like they are all in the general vicinity of the park. However I think a few are heading towards us at speed. I can't tell if it is hollow or dementor." However Fred's question was answered when the group felt a huge wave of spiritual pressure that chilled them to the bone.

"What the heck is that?" Ichigo had never felt so hopeless in his life. "Hollows don't have spiritual pressure like that!"

"That would be because it is a dementor," Neville said. "They feed off happiness, leaving you an empty shell of despair."

Just beyond the tree line there was a black haze descending. The air condensed into mist and it began to advance towards the shinigami. Behind the familiar screech of hollows could be heard and Remus grimaced.

"Looks like the hollows are being attracted be the spiritual pressure of the dementors," he turned to the screeching.

"And vice versa," his wife added.

Fred suppressed a groan when his radar stopped working properly, but he began to hit the side of it to get the screen to start working again. Once the screen got back working again he yelped. The number of hostiles had multiplied.

Noticing the readings on the screen Yoruichi spoke up.

"Look those hollows don't seem to be that powerful. Ichigo, Sirius and I will go and finish them up while you take on the dementors. We'll meet up at Urahara's once everything is exterminated."

"Okay," Remus nodded.

The dementors had now emerged from the woodland and headed towards them. The wizards pulled out their wands throwing the strongest patronus' they could muster before heading in to slice them down.

Sirius padded towards Yoruichi. She had already turned back to her human form and out some clothes on. It wasn't long before the hollows also began to appear in their line of vision. The trio grinned and set to neutralise the hollows.

* * *

"So what's the damage?" Sirius asked Urahara when he entered with Ichigo and his friends. Remus and the rest of the wizards had arrived back minutes ago to see the results of Urahara's experiments. The dementors had been more of a problem than anticipated, so when Yoruichi, Sirius and Ichigo had finished fighting off the hollows they went to help the wizards. Yoruichi was fascinated when they finished off one of the dementors and had brought it in for Kisuke to examine.

It had been half an hour and they all congregated back in the shop's main room for the results.

Fred looked down to his parchment.

"There were 23 dementors in total. Ten were Level 1 and 13 were level 2. It looks like you got the last of them Ichigo," Fred said as he relayed the situation to the new arrivals. "Tessai managed to use some advanced Kido to contain a level 2 dementor and Urahara has just finished examining it."

"Never seen those level twos before," Sirius grimaced. "What's with that?"

"That's just it," Hermione said. "They started changing just after the Hogwarts battle. It wasn't until after our training that their evolution began to accelerate. They are becoming more hollow like every time we see them."

"Do you know what's causing it?" Ishida questioned.

"No," Hermione replied. "We have no idea. It's not Voldemort's doing. If anything its like their magic is being slowly seeping away."

"Did you find out anything Urahara-san?" Luna asked dreamily.

"Tessai and I have managed to experiment on the dementor that Sirius helped us catch," he started. "I do believe that Miss Granger is right in this matter. They are slowly transforming in to hollow like beings. As we know, wizards created dementors by breeding hollows and wraiths. This made them less powerful and easier to manipulate and to do wizards bidding. However dementors are reverting back to their hollow state. However, due to their wraith blood they are stronger that the average hollow, nor are they as easily to dispose of."

"Your telling me," Sirius said with a shudder. "They still have the ability to suck away all happiness."

"Indeed," Urahara said. "It seems Voldemort still has a bit of control over them. However, I believe he is well aware that his control is slipping and is not merely observing them. I fear that the wizard is on his way here as wee speak due to their sudden movement to Japan."

"What do you think caused their transformation?" Tonks asked.

"Well I wouldn't put it past Aizen and his experiments, but due to some of my own experiments I fear I have come to a more problematic conclusion. I believe that the changes started straight after your transformation to shinigami. The fluctuation between magic and spiritual pressure must have had an effect on the dementor's balance between hollow and wraith."

"So your blaming this dementor epidemic on us?" Ginny scoffed.

"If only that was the case Miss Weasley. However the dementors are much more responsive to hollow spiritual pressure than shinigami," Urahara replied. "Which means that a wizard has turned into a hollow. By the way the dementors are growing in strength and numbers, I believe the hollow is getting stronger."

"Now much stronger?" Remus asked.

"Captain strength, but most probably stronger."


End file.
